How to Successfully Write and Negotiate a Contract

When it comes to business and contracts, there are about as many different kinds as you could imagine. That’s because they are used for so many different things. Some are fairly straight forward and you can put them together yourself when you need them for your business.

On the other hand, others are somewhat more complex and are far more important to get absolutely correct. With such contracts, you may wish to enlist the services of an experienced business attorney who knows contract law and can make sure you are protected and that your contract is legally enforceable before it’s too late.

Here are some great tips and helpful advice to make sure you are successfully using contracts as you should be.

Tips on Negotiation

One thing that’s good to keep in mind is that a contract is an agreement, and thus, there will always be a bit of negotiation involved. Therefore, it’s in your best interest (and the best interest of your business) to make sure you are negotiating properly and effectively. Here are some things you’ll want to keep in mind to ensure you do just that:

●Make sure you go into a negotiation with a clear objective. If you like, list out your goals.

●Research everything you need to know beforehand, including figures, facts, and relevant laws.

● Try to build some sort of trust between you and any other included parties. Trust is a great aid to effective communication.

●Decide beforehand what areas you are willing to compromise, but also make clear to yourself what is essential that you get from the negotiation.

● Listen to everything the other party says – don’t just wait for your turn to talk.

● Keeping everything ordered will help things proceed more effectively. Consider using a checklist or a first-draft of an agreement to facilitate this.

Tips on Drafting a Business Contract

There are some things you’ll want to keep in mind when it comes to drafting the language of your business contracts. It will help if you have a few things down first:

● Your contract needs to be focused, specific, and clear to be effective.

● Use short sentences to avoid ambiguity.

● Make sure everyone’s names are absolutely accurate or it won’t be legally enforceable.

● Define/stipulate each of the important terms you’ll use in your contract.

● Properly prepare for a dispute or litigation by specifying attorney fees, choice of laws, and should informal dispute resolution be preferred as a first step.

● Ensure everyone signs the contract.

● Number all of the pages so that it will be easy to see if pages were added/subtracted after a signing.

● You may want to review a sample contract or use a template to get started.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​Yoel Molina, Esq. (AKA “Mo”)

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