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Getting a contract reviewed is important because all of your decisions are made through a contract. Contracts should always be handled correctly to prevent yourself from having a legal problem.
This means every single contract drafted and negotiated needs to be reviewed by a contract lawyer before it gets signed.
Here are a few key reasons why you should have a legal review of contracts:
• It prevents people from misunderstanding what they are signing. All terms need to be clear.
• It guarantees that the terms within the contract are legal and lawful.
• It prevents – or at least minimises – future legal problems.
You should get a contract reviewed by a legal professional because not doing so is an avoidable mistake.
Contract reviewing goes beyond just protecting your company from signing a troublesome contract. It is also about protecting the relationship between you and the other parties involved.
The relationship is going to be doomed to fail if all parties do not understand the contract.
You enter into contracts every day and all of the time.
Terms of any contract need to be fair, correctly drafted, and thoroughly reviewed. It is vital to make sure the contract meets the needs of both parties involved.
Review a Contract is basically a four-step process. These steps include:
• Drafting
• Reviewing
• Negotiating
• Signing
First, a contract is created.
Second, the contract is reviewed.
Third, you negotiate any changes you want to make to the contract.
Finally, once everyone is happy and the terms are crystal clear, you sign the contract. Sticking to this four-step plan is the key to preventing yourself from signing a contract that isn’t in your best interest.
A contract review lawyer works with contracts. They can create them, revise them, review them, help you understand them, and help you negotiate the terms of any contract.
A contract is a legally binding agreement between you and another party. Contracts tend to pop up in both business and personal matters.
Considering a contract is a legally binding piece of paperwork. Therefore, it is vital to make sure they are done the right way. This alone is the biggest reason why you need a lawyer to review your contract.
Naturally, the job of a contract lawyer works both ways. Say you are someone who is getting ready to sign a big contract for a new job, a contract lawyer could look at the contract. They can explain it to you in a way that you will understand, and then they will help you make any necessary revisions.
Having a contract lawyer on your side before you create or sign any contract is a good idea because you could be creating signing something you wouldn’t normally agree to.
At times, you’ll be faced with difficulty in understanding the complex jargon of a contract. But Onlinecontractreviews.com.au is here to help.
There are many different types of contracts that you should have reviewed before signing anything.
Some of the most common types include employment contracts, real estate contracts, and purchase agreements.
Let’s look at these common types of legal documents in more detail:
Employment Contracts
An employment contract is something that you’ll have any time you are getting ready to start a new job, a new position, or a new contract.
There are many things to look for in an employment contract, we cover this in more detail below, but the most important thing to remember is don’t sign anything you aren’t 100% clear on.
Real Estate Contracts
Real estate contracts are documents that you need to sign when you are leasing or purchasing real estate.
These are usually pretty standard, but it is important to have a lawyer review these contracts because they often involve a major purchase.
Your contract review lawyer will review Contracts of Sale, mortgage loan documents, a plot of land survey, title deeds, leases, and the legal description of the property.
Purchase Agreements
Purchase agreements are used to transfer property from one person to another. This may be real estate, vehicles, or any other tangible asset.
Just like with the real estate contract review, your contract review analysis will include any necessary titles, insurance, deeds, loan documents, and the sale and transfer contract.
An employment contract review is vital for the future of your career. Here are 10 things you should consider when signing an employment contract:
1. Job Security
2. Start and End Dates
3. Termination Cause
4. Compensation and Benefits
5. Job Description
6. Exclusivity
7. Intellectual Property
8. Non-compete
9. Non-solicitation
10. Sale of company
Job security sounds like something you wouldn’t need to check with an employment contract, right? I mean, you’re signing the contract which provides the job security after all.
Start and end dates are necessary because, without solid dates that specify when your employment begins and ends, you are just signing an offer letter.
Termination cause is important because it’s how you can lose your job. As an employee, you want the cause to be required, but your employer may want the ability to fire you without any cause. Read this section carefully and keep in mind the future consequences.
Compensation and benefits should state your base pay, amount and terms of any bonuses, and the benefits you are entitled to.
The job description sounds like a duh factor. Of course, the contract will have your job description, right? It may, but it may not be enough.
You want to have your job title clearly defined with your duties listed. Can you imagine getting a job only to find out you accepted another? Ouch.
Exclusivity is something that some professionals refer to as moonlighting you want to have the ability to do work on the side outside of your employment.
Intellectual Property includes the rights to anything you create or invent while you’re employed. Usually, the intellectual property of anything you create on the job or during employment belongs to your employer.
If you are already working on something before you sign the contract, be sure it’s clear that the rights to those things are yours.
Non-compete means that you can’t work for a competitor for a specified period after you terminate your contract with your employer. Be sure that the time and restrictions are reasonable so you are employable after the contract ends.
Non-solicitation prevents you from getting your employer’s contractors, staff, or customers/clients/patients. The term is usually for one to two years.
The sale of the company isn’t something you probably think about as you are doing your contract analysis. Which is why contract review services exist.
You just need to know what happens to your employment contract if the company is sold. Want job security? Ask that the contract remains active.
At reasonable employment contract review cost, having a lawyer to review an employment contract could make all the difference in the future for your employment.
How long it takes to review a contract depends on the length of the contract, the details involved, and the lawyer’s caseload and schedule.
If you have a certain deadline for your contract, you should make your contract review lawyer aware of that deadline and ask if they can meet it before hiring them.
In most cases, you’ll have a short period to review any contract before you are required to sign or turn-down the offer.
Most lawyers are aware of the timeframe and work within it to make sure your contract review services are completed on time.
Finding a lawyer to review your contract could lead to an endless internet search that takes hours as you review a large number of websites and ask for a quote after quote. Or you could just engage the services of Onlinecontractreviews.com.au and not worry about competing quotes.
Having a contract review checklist that you can refer to when you sign contracts may be helpful to you.
Here’s what you should look for to review contract:
• The terms of the agreement (open to negotiation)
• The parties involved
• Nothing is left blank
• Clear quantifiable terms (price, duration, square meterage, etc.)
• Renewal terms
• Risk allocation
• Indemnification and hold harmless agreements
• Reference documents
• Default terms
• Remedies provisions
• Termination
• Deadlines and important dates
• Warranties
• Representations
• Responsibilities and rights
• Dispute resolution
If you are someone who thrives in the business industry, you likely deal with a contract on a pretty regular basis.
Property leases, vehicle leases, equipment leases, web development agreements, advertising agreements, banking documents, and employee paperwork are all different forms of contracts.
One thing Onlinecontractreviews.com.au has learned is even people who work with these types of documents regularly do not necessarily take the time to appreciate them the way they should.
Stop for a moment and ask yourself this question – have you ever signed a document only after glancing at it?
Have you signed something without reading the fine print and without knowing how to review a contract document?
If so, you are not alone, but you could be making a big mistake.
Contracts are important and legally binding. They should be appreciated and understood with care.
If you are unsure about anything, it’s best to hire a lawyer to review your so you don’t agree to anything you don’t understand.
If you are confused as to how to review a contract, contact us for all of your contract review needs.
We will source the best law firm which fits your contract review requirements. We have eliminated the headaches of paying lawyers by the hour and finding time to meet with a lawyer in person. Communication will be via phone, email and cloud conferencing — whichever suits you! We know you’re busy, so we’re only a click away. You’ll be guided through this process by expert lawyers, who are Australian-qualified and were trained at leading law firms.
The package includes a review of the contract by an expert lawyer, who is currently working within a leading law firm in Australia. Your lawyer will review a contract provided by you and highlight its major issues and risks, a summary of the review setting out the key issues and risks, and complimentary phone consultations will also be provided by your retained lawyer.
Our contract reviews start at $799 + GST. You can work out the exact price by referring to our pricing schedule.
Onlinecontractreviews.com.au operates completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in Australia. Our affiliated law firms and lawyers often work flexibly across various locations throughout Australia.
After working in the legal industry for over 20 years and listening to the advice from past client’s, they were fed up with paying thousands of dollars for a line-by-line reiteration of a contract. WE LISTENED AND CREATED A SERVICE WHICH PROVIDES AN ALL IMPORTANT FLAT FEE FROM START TO FINISH. The report from the legal firm you engaged will contain a meaningful summary highlighting any red flags, unusual terms and spotting gaps. The law firm you engage will specialise exclusively in contract law which means they can review contracts more efficiently than a lawyer in a typical multi-practice firm.
We take your privacy and confidentiality very seriously. Read our Privacy Policy. Only you and your lawyer. Your contract will be reviewed by a commercially trained Australian lawyer. That means that you’re protected by the same laws as the ones that apply if you’d walked into a regular brick-and-mortar law firm.
Your individual client portal is a fully encrypted, safe space which is regularly tested for
security vulnerabilities by an independent security firm. Although we have measures in
place, it’s still important to take security precautions at your end too.
We recommend:
- Use full disk encryption on all computers
- Create strong passwords and don’t write them down
- Back up daily
- Keep anti-virus software current
- Maintain a firewall
- Use anti-malware protection
- Use a popup blocker (we recommend using Firefox with security add-ons)
- Secure your wireless and never access your portal from a hotspot
- Remove metadata before transmitting documents
We will communicate with you through your client portal. Once you have engaged your law firm, communication will be via email and telephone. Your final reported review will be provided via email through your retained law firm. Email is unencrypted and so it is not a secure method of transmitting your confidential information. We only use email to let you know there are messages or documents waiting for you in your portal.
If you haven’t engaged your law firm and your law firm hasn’t started reviewing your contract yet, we won’t mind cancelling your order and refunding your payment in full. Please login to your portal and tell us immediately if you wish to cancel.
Onlinecontractreviews.com.au is not a law firm. Onlinecontractreviews.com.au offers no legal advice, recommendations, mediation, or counselling under any circumstance. Onlinecontractreviews.com.au may provide information on its site and any such information is for educational and informative purposes and must not be relied upon by User. Onlinecontractreviews.com.au encourages the User not to accept any information received from any source found on this service, unless it is from a lawfirm/lawyer the User has retained.
We review contracts up to a commercial value of $2 million. Here are a few examples of the
types of contracts we regularly see –
Standard form contracts
Period contracts
Medical agreements
TAC claims
Workers compensation claims
Real Estate agent authorities
Mortgage documents
Shareholder agreements
Real Estate Contracts
Real Estate Sales & Purchase Contracts
Residential Lease Agreements
Commercial Lease Agreements
Employment Contracts
Motor vehicle Contracts
Motor vehicle leases
Building Contracts
Sporting Contracts and Agreements
Sponsorship Agreements
Tender agreements
Credit contracts and agreements
Trade Secret Agreements
Non-disclosure Agreements
Confidentiality Agreements
Business sale contracts
Business Acquisition agreements
Business Contracts
Sale of Goods Contracts or Sales Contracts
Purchase Orders
Employee Agreements
Franchise Agreements
Purchase of a Business
Default notices
Corporations and bylaws of corporations
Operating Agreements for a Limited
Liability Company (LLC)
Partnership Agreements,
Entertainment Agreements and Record Deals
Distribution Agreements
Exclusive Contracts
Representative Agreements
Supply Agreements
Construction Contracts
Licensing Contracts or Licensing
Agreements
Technology Licensing
License to use or Assignment of a Patent Agreement
Letters of Intent
Outsourcing Agreements
Service Agreements
Memorandums of Understanding
Settlement and Release Agreements
Agency Agreements
Consulting Agreements
Marketing or Advertising Agreements
Security Agreements
Breach of contract
Exit strategies
Immigration and Migration reviews
Still have questions? Get in touch