Which moment it is written for
Not the day of signing. The day something goes wrong.
While everything runs smoothly, the text is irrelevant. It matters only once the other side delays, refuses or disappears. Then it is read word by word and it becomes clear who was careful.
Which clauses decide
Who owes what and by when. The more specific, the less room for argument.
How performance is proved. Acceptance, records, a period for objections, and what silence means.
What happens on delay. Penalties, termination, a right to withhold.
How you get out of the contract. A contract with no exit is a trap, however good the other terms are.
Where disputes are decided. It looks technical and it determines whether you will enforce your rights at all.
A ready-made text can be changed
The most useful thing I tell people. The text sent to you is not the law and it is not final.
Usually two or three clauses change. The other side often agrees, because they want the deal too. Nobody asks, because nobody knows they can.
When you probably do not need me
A small one-off transaction, paid on delivery, with no continuing obligations. The review costs more than the risk, and I will tell you so.
Call for a long term, a large sum, a foreign counterparty, or where you are becoming dependent on the other side.
If the contract is in another language
Say so at the start. There is a difference between a text that has to work under Bulgarian law and one governed by another law that still has consequences here.
Do not sign a translation that has not been checked simply because it reads clearly.
Related
Commercial contracts, breach and penalties.
What I will need
The draft and its annexes. What was agreed verbally and is not in the text. Who the other side is. And what you cannot afford to have happen, because the protection is written around that.
This page provides general information and does not constitute legal advice on any specific case. Rights and deadlines depend on the facts and the applicable law.