Preface
This book is the first in a series of Know What Your Lawyer Knows™ books designed to help business owners and executives gain a deeper understanding of how to use the law to their advantage and improve their business. In addition, the goal of this book and the entire series is to help business owners and executives better manage the bottom line by reducing the serious drain legal fees impose on their business.
These books are intended and designed to inform and empower business owners and executives in their dealings with their lawyers as well as other key stakeholders. In the end, we believe that a healthy dose of training in how lawyers think and operate will help business owners and executives become smarter consumers of legal services and more effective in business and in life.
In our mission and quest to deliver truly practical and useful legal information and training to business owners and executives, we offer this legal information book. The law is a business tool that business owners and executives can use to manage risks and grow profits.
Table of Contents
| The First Day of Law School – Contracts 101 – The Case of the Hairy Hand . . . . | Page 8 |
| Making the Agreement Binding and Enforceable . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 15 |
| Formation of an Enforceable Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 16 |
| Legal Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 19 |
| Contract as Trial Exhibit – Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 20 |
| Understanding Frequently Used Contract Language . . . . . . . . . .. | Page 21 |
| Clear Identification of the Contracting Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 21 |
| The Effective Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 23 |
| Clear Statement of the Scope of Work (with defined milestone and terms) . . . . . | Page 24 |
| Best to Spell it Out – Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 25 |
| Clear Billing and Payment Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 26 |
| Independent Contractor Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 27 |
| Non-Competition & Non-Solicitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 28 |
| The Integration Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 29 |
| What if Parts of the Contract are Found to be Invalid and Not Enforceable . . . . . | Page 30 |
| Assignment / Non-Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 31 |
| No Waivers, Written Amendments and Modifications . . . . . . . . . . | Page 33 |
| Ownership of Intellectual Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 34 |
| Choice of Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 35 |
| Where You Gonna Sue? The Venue Selection Clause . . . . . . . . | Page 36 |
| Indemnification Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 38 |
| Limitation of Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 39 |
| Express Warranties and the Warranty Disclaimer Provision . . . . . | Page 40 |
| Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 42 |
| Attorney Fee Provision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 43 |
| A Few Words about SHALL, WILL and MAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 44 |
| An Important Rule of Contract Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 45 |
| The Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing . . . . . . . . . | Page 46 |
| About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Page 47 |