Commercial Contracts

What the large print giveth, as the old saying goes, the small print taketh away.

Don't let your commercial contracts be formidable swamps of small print. As confusing and impenetrable as commercial contracts can seem to the uninitiated, they often follow the same structure, with the same seven or eight sections containing the key provisions of the contract, and the same set of pitfalls that are sometimes tucked away near the end of the contract amongst all the other miscellaneous provisions. To make things more complicated, modern contracts often have several exhibits attached to them - this one about data protection, that one a confidentiality policy, and then maybe an insurance rider thrown in. It soon starts to look like a lot.

Fortunately, at their heart, commercial contracts are generally about an exchange of money for goods, services, or the rights to use something that is otherwise restricted to the general public. Around that, both sides put in terms to deal with situations that they worry about: what happens if one party does not pay? What happens if both sides completely misunderstood each other? Or what if one party discovers a much more attractive alternative halfway through the contract? And then on top, both parties look to sprinkle on lessons learned from difficult situations they have been in the past. A vendor did not provide the level of white glove services he had promised? A customer consistently made late payments, but pushed back against late fees? Put in language in the contract, the order comes to Legal, that this never happens again, and the contract grows by another six inches.

Therefore, please let me know if you need a contract made sense of, and we can dissect it together. The jargon, clutter, and boilerplate will fall away, and you will be left with the bare essentials. And the truth shall set you free.