Business Contracts: Lower Your Legal Costs

What if there was a way to lower your legal fees? Especially when it comes to paying a lawyer to draft business contracts?

FindLaw's Corporate Counsel Contracts Center can help you do just that. With almost 5,000 contracts drafted by top attorneys and paid for by public companies (including a new batch from the Fortune 500), the database boasts contracts covering a wide range of topics, including employment, intellectual property, securities, and operating agreements.

There are only so many ways to capture key business and legal terms, so why reinvent the wheel? Or pay an attorney try to do so for you?

So, how exactly do you use the Center to keep legal costs low?

Using partnerships as an example, before you meet with your lawyer about drafting an agreement, look up a number of examples in the FindLaw Contracts Center database.

As you read through the sample contracts, keep a list of provisions that you would like to include and exclude, along with any topics on which you would like more in-depth information.

Do you want to include provisions for capital accounts and contributions? Management fees? Salaries? Events that will end or change the partnership? Partner rights? Yearly distributions? Dissolution responsibilities?

Is there a contract term (or complete contract) that mirrors exactly what you want?

Using the sample business contracts to prepare for your attorney meeting can help direct the conversation, cut down on the time spent consulting with counsel, and prevent your attorney from spending time researching unnecessary terms.

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• First 5 Steps to Start a Non-Profit Organization (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)
• When Do You Need a Small Business Attorney? (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)
• You Just Incorporated Your Business. Now What? (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)