Having a Lawyer Establish a Required Agreement v Drafting Your Own
Unless you deal with commercial contracts on a daily basis, considering drafting an agreement that covers your circumstances can be daunting! Of course, some with consider this is a cheaper route to accomplish your objectives, unfortunately this cannot be further from the truth! A well drafted agreement can save you money, by minimising disputes and /or ensuring your interests are protected.
A downloaded template you found / borrowed off a mate can cost you much more than the cost of drafting a professional agreement!
Establishing agreements is one of many areas our firm specializes in. We setup tailored agreements to suit your industry or circumstance.
On many occasions our clients engage us initially for a review of an agreement of sorts that they have drafted themselves. However, we always recommend our personal touch to the agreement allowing us to establish a tailored structure suitable for the specific industry or circumstance at any time which ends up being cost efficient, less time consuming and ensures your agreement meets all required criteria.
Reasons Why You Should Have an Agreement Drafted by a Lawyer
EXPERTISE
Remember lawyers deal with agreements on a daily basis. Engaging a lawyer to draft the agreement ensures that they will cover all necessary measures of a contract. Although some of our clients prefer to draft their own agreements and have us review them, in most instances we see specific elements of a binding contract are missed.
LESS TIME CONSUMING
Drafting a full-length agreement by yourself can be confusing and time consuming. Having to go from following the required legislation, to reflecting it onto your agreement and ensuring the other party to the agreement will comply with the terms, can be complicated and may take longer than you originally expected.
By approaching an appropriate law firm all that is required from you is the relevant instructions. Then you’re able to sit back, relax and leave the hard work and legal jargon up to us. We will ensure your terms and instructions are reflected in the agreement that you require and that all necessary elements of a contract are met. Once we have drafted the document, we will send to you for your final input on whether you’re satisfied and if not, we’re happy to make changes to better reflect what you need.
SUITABLE FOR FUTURE
Most of the agreements we prepare may serve a purpose for future use. For instance, if you engage our firm and have us prepare an employment agreement for a specific employee, we can draft a general agreement upon your request suitable for future employees. Which in turn saves you money and time.
However, unless the law is amended, or the agreement is outdated then we recommend an agreement be renewed and re- drafted.
MORE COST FRIENDLY
Having a firm establish a well – tailored agreement in most instances is a cheaper option and here is why. If you approach a law firm for a review of an agreement and the firm provides you with relevant advice and sections that you need to amend or required clauses you have missed, you will then need to re-draft or amend the agreement. After you complete the re-draft, you’ll need the agreement reviewed and advice provided for a second time to ensure all standards are met. Alternatively, time and cost can be saved by having a solicitor provide you with a quote of the work and prepare the required agreement making the process much simpler for you.
UNDERSTANDING LEGAL JARGON
Employers and employees often turn to basic, oversimplified and generic agreements when they choose to draft their own or pre-fill and download one online. These generally don’t or briefly include required elements of an agreement.
For instance, in establishing an employment agreement minimum conditions must be complied with that are set out by National Employment Standards (NES), Fair Work Commission, Applicable Awards amongst others. Therefore, having to set out a document whilst being impartial and considering both parties to an agreement can be a challenging task setting up a document by reflecting legal standards and legislation that is often quite hard to understand.
The termination clause in particular has to be well drafted, straightforward and concise. This allows both parties to understand under what circumstances they may be let go and as to what constitutes a fire able offence. Further, ensuring legality of the termination is met is crucial so claims for wrongful termination or breach of contract are avoided. Therefore, a lawyer will ensure that the clauses are well written for both parties to be aware of.
UP TO DATE WITH LEGISLATIVE CHANGES
Legislation you believe may still apply may have been amended or no longer apply. However, lawyers who draft these agreements day in and day out are aware of the changes that occur and will draft an agreement reflecting the most current law and standards.
IMPARTIALITY
When drafting an agreement, a lawyer is impartial as they must set out the rights and obligations of all parties to the agreement. However, drafting an agreement personally in instances where you’re the employer or employee may cause you to be much more lenient on yourself compared to the other party without realisation. Lawyers ensure that an agreement is fair and in consideration of both parties.
Please note that this is an article and specific requirements and agreements are suitable to each individual or party depending on each individual circumstance. If you wish to have an agreement drafted or reviewed please don’t hesitate to contact us by emailing nick@karolidis.com.au or calling on (03) 9942 7990 for further information.