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From the blog

Read up before you sign.

Plain-English notes on the clauses that trip people up most — the same careful reading, in article form.

Four meanings of the word lease, covering a home tenancy, goods under UCC article 2A and the accounting classification under ASC 842, with lease or license flagged as the question that decides the restLeases · 21 min read

Meaning of Lease: 4 Things the Word Can Mean

The meaning of lease changes with the context: a tenancy, commercial space, goods under UCC 2A, or an accounting classification under ASC 842 and IFRS 16.

Read the piece →Nine contract checks with three verdicts, showing parties and renewal as routine and a personal guarantee flagged as the finding that means calling a lawyerContracts · 26 min read

Contract Review Tool: Do You Even Need a Lawyer?

A contract review tool will not replace a lawyer. It tells you whether you need one, which 3 findings mean call today, and how to make that hour cost less.

Read the piece →The contract review process shown as seven stages with four failure points, the flagged one being that there is no standard to read the contract againstContracts · 25 min read

Contract Review: The Process and What It Catches

What a contract review is, the 7 stages from intake to signature, and the 4 stages where the research finds it failing. It is almost never the reading itself.

Read the piece →A comparison of contract review software against a general AI assistant, with spotting what is missing flagged as the real difference between themContracts · 22 min read

Contract Review Software vs Just Using an AI

Contract review software or just paste it into ChatGPT? What dedicated tools really add, where your document goes on each tier, and when buying is worth it.

Read the piece →A list of comments on a contract draft with clause 11, uncapped liability, flagged as the one to spend your single ask onContracts · 19 min read

How to Review a Contract, and What to Say

How to review a contract in four passes, which findings are worth raising, the exact words to use, and the legal trap in redlining that can end your deal.

Read the piece →A contract register showing fourteen fields, with field seven, the notice deadline, flagged as a date to calculate at signingContracts · 15 min read

Contract Management: The Fourteen Field Register

Contract management at small scale is one list, fourteen fields, one owner. What goes in the register, and how long you must actually keep a contract.

Read the piece →A four rung maturity ladder for contract management, from email and drives through a folder and calendar and e-signature to a full CLM platform costing five thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand a yearTools · 18 min read

Contract Lifecycle Management: What It Is, and Whether You Need It Yet

Contract lifecycle management is the top rung of a four rung ladder, and most organizations searching for it are on rung one or two. Here are the eight stages, the four statistics every vendor page quotes and what they actually say, and the honest signal that you have outgrown a folder and a calendar.

Read the piece →A downloaded work contract template with employment agreement, services agreement, contractor agreement and a work-for-hire clause listed, the contractor row flagged because the label does not decide statusContracts · 17 min read

Work Contract Agreement Template: Which One You Need Before You Download One

Three different agreements answer to the phrase work contract, and a template cannot tell you which one your situation needs. Here is how to identify the right one, what no template can decide for you, and the five US jurisdictions where a written contract is legally required and has to contain specified terms.

Read the piece →An independent contractor agreement listing twelve clauses, with clause 6 indemnity flagged as uncapped and to be raised before the rateContracts · 16 min read

Independent Contractor Agreement: The Twelve Clauses, and the Seven That Work Against You

An independent contractor agreement has twelve working parts, and seven clauses that turn up in almost every draft are direct evidence against the status the document is claiming. Here is what each clause does, what each side should be checking, and which terms to take out before signing.

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