A business is actually a legal fiction: without a contract between the state and the owners, it doesn’t exist. And it is from that initial agreement that a series of other contracts are entered into, revised, improved, and even terminated in order to build what we commonly, and generically, refer to as our “business.” In the eyes of the law, the contract is the language of business. If it’s not written, practiced, evidenced, or otherwise assented to, then it might not exist. And if it does, it could be really hard to enforce. Many business owners believe that their contracts say one thing, when in fact they say something very different. And as Murphy would have it, when they need to rely on it, they encounter problems that typically could have been prevented with a careful read and thoughtful revisions. All of this is to say that contracts matter. Whether its an employee handbook or policy manual, a shareholders agreement, operating agreement or buy-sell agreement, or employment agreement, consulting agreement, independent contractor agreement, lease agreement, service agreement or licensing agreement: don’t engage in the language of the law alone; work with a fluent speaker. We review and draft contracts all day, every day. And, chances are, a quick call to us with a question, or a quick review of something before you sign it, will save you a lot of time, money and headache later on.
