Every business needs effective well prepared agreements and contracts to document relationships with employees, contractors, vendors and other business partners.  The failure to have written agreements or contracts often ends up with misunderstanding, strife, and all to often litigation.  It is not just that people are not trustworthy and you can no longer make a “handshake” deal, it rather that most situations in business dealings today are complex and the agreements that document them must specify the terms to which the parties are agreeing and must anticipate where potential confusion or disagreement may arise and get the parties to agreement on these matters when the contract is signed.   If that does not happen, by the time the differences arise, it is often impossible to get the parties to agree as to their intent at the time of the agreement.

A good contract will also help the parties understand the matters that have to be negotiated, or that should be negotiated in order for the transaction to be clear and terms of the agreement to understood by everyone.  Many times, the lack of a written agreement will result in confusion and disagreement that could easily be avoided with a well drafted contract.

Most businesses lease office space and sign long complex lease agreements for the space they are renting.  Although many landlords will make it sound like all leases are just boilerplate and you don’t need an attorney to review them, the opposite is true.  Most leases have very one-sided language which is greatly to the benefit of the landlord and should be modified to reflect reasonable terms that are standard in the market where the property is leased.

Regardless of the type of agreement – employment, financial, intellectual property, services, equipment, etc., it pays to have your documents prepared or reviewed a competent business attorney like John Worley.