Homepage
Open in app
Sign inGet started

ContractStandards

Standardized contracts, checklists, and clauses built with analysis of thousands of public documents. Contractstandards.com

Go to the profile of Alex Hoover
Alex Hoover
Aug 8, 2017

We’re Hiring

ContractStandards is looking for some talented people to help us create content. Come join the team!

Law clerk

We are looking for law clerks to help us build content for ContractStandards clients and the ContractStandards public library.

Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Jan 4, 2017

White Space Is Your Friend

When editing a legal agreement, one of the easiest yet most useful tasks you can carry out is to create white space. You do this by taking long paragraphs containing one or more subclauses and breaking them into separate elements using the hard return (in other words, the “Enter”…

Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Dec 1, 2016

Create “Horizontal Consistency” Amongst Your Documents

One common problem with precedent initiatives is the failure to plan for maintaining the collection, once created. The most obvious aspect of this is the failure to address how the language in your agreements, once published, will…

Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Nov 17, 2016

Plain language drafting: Write for your reader

The push for plain language drafting is, of course, nothing new. Joseph Kimble, Emeritus professor at WMU–Cooley Law School, has been writing on the topic for more than 30 years. He has written two books, including Lifting the Fog of Legalese and…

Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Nov 10, 2016

Your Style Guide: A Critical Factor for Success

Although it may not be self-evident, adopting a house style guide is one of the most important things you can have to help improve the overall quality of your documents.

Purpose

Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Nov 3, 2016

One Substantive Issue Per Clause

Among the most important things to do in your drafting is to ensure that every clause addresses one and only one substantive issue.

Avoid confusion

Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Oct 27, 2016

Clear, “Meaty” Clause Captions

Among the most important things to do in your drafting is to insure that every clause has a clear, “meaty” caption (or heading).

Far too often we see either vague or generic captions for clauses. Such an approach makes it much more difficult for the…

Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Oct 20, 2016

Create a Clear, Logical Structure

There are several important but necessary principles you should apply to make your legal agreements better, including using

  • plain language
  • short, declarative sentences
  • clear, descriptive…
Read more…
Go to the profile of John Gillies
John Gillies
Oct 13, 2016

Your Base Document: A Key Starting Point

It is important to adopt a “base document” or “boilerplate agreement” that has sample language for the various clauses that commonly occur in your agreements (frequently referred to as boilerplate clauses). There are several significant benefits to doing so…

Read more…
Go to the profile of ContractStandards Blog
ContractStandards Blog
Jun 17, 2016

Contract Maturity Model (Part 2): Technology Assembly Line — from Active to Passive Systems

Originally published in The Legal Executive Institute’s blog, Jun 16, 2016 http://legalexecutiveinstitute.com/contract-maturity-technology-assembly-line/

Read more…
About ContractStandardsLatest StoriesArchiveAbout MediumTermsPrivacy