Contract Drafting & Review

A contract does two jobs, and they pull in opposite directions. It has to be agreeable enough that the other side signs it, and precise enough that it still answers the question when the relationship has soured. Templates downloaded and reused tend to solve the first problem and quietly fail the second: they are silent exactly where the parties later disagree, because the person who wrote them was describing a deal that went well.

Drafting and review means producing documents that hold up in the second situation without making the first one harder than it needs to be. It typically covers:

• drafting an agreement from the commercial terms rather than from a template;
• reviewing what the other side has sent, with the negotiable and non-negotiable separated;
• the clauses that decide a dispute — liability, termination, notice and governing law;
• your own standard terms, and making sure they are actually incorporated;
• framework agreements and the order documents that sit under them;
• confidentiality, exclusivity and heads of terms before a deal is agreed;
• the practical mechanics — signature authority, versions and what was finally agreed;
• a plain-language summary of what a signed contract commits you to;
• periodic review, so a document written years ago still matches how you trade.

Our lawyers can support you with this.