Safeguarding your interests is key when entering into a contract.
Our Corporate and Commercial team explore how you should ensure contracts are reviewed and considered carefully, before you sign on the dotted line.
Safeguard your interests
In order to safeguard your own interests, preparation is key when entering into a contract.
The key is to understand the contract fully before signing the document and in order to do understand the document you may need some guidance from a legal expert.
You may not think you should incur legal fees at this stage, however the alternative is that you sign the contract, and the terms are not what you are expecting.
At this stage you may want to change the terms of the contract or even get out of it entirely, however as you signed the contract it is legally binding and you will have little ability to amend it or withdraw from it and any attempt to do so may result in you incurring hefty legal fees, way more than those that would have been incurred in taking legal advice on the contract in the first place.
So, what can go wrong when signing a contract?
The contract may contain terms that are more favourable to the other party which could then put you at a disadvantage.
The termination terms may be such that it is significantly harder for you to exit than you had expected. You may not fully know or understand what your obligations are, and these end up being more stringent or imposing more restrictions on you than you had anticipated.
Conversely, the other party’s obligations under the contract may not be as extensive as you had believed.
All of this may impact the financial return and other benefits that you had you expected to derive from the contract. The contract that you had entered into isn’t what you thought, and you now end up regretting it. However, as you have signed the contract without fully understanding it and not receiving legal advice, you end up being stuck with the terms.
What is the best way to go about things?
You can get in contact with one of our team and ask us to undertake a review of the contract before you sign it.
Once engaged we can provide a headline review of the terms and inform you what the various parts of the contract mean, including the obligations and restrictions that you and the other party are agreeing to and the circumstances in which the contract can be changed or ended.
Our review will be delivered to you in an easy-to-read format and this way you can ensure the contract works for you. If the contract is not fit for purpose, then we will inform you of this and we can then either enter in negotiations with the other party to ensure the terms are amended appropriately or we can draft a new contract that better reflects the arrangements that you have discussed with the other party.
Get in touch with one of our team of experts who’ll be able to help you to review your contracts and ensure you’re getting the deal you think you are, before you sign on the dotted line.
