Can You Draft Your Own Contract?

I'm here to answer this burning question. Can you draft your own contract?

Can you? Yes!

Should you? Probably not.

Before I dig into that any deeper, let me ask you this question. Have you ever been in a store and seen clothes in sizes they probably shouldn't come in but you know someone could wear them? And I'm not just talking, you know, one way on the spectrum. Even I have a little girl and I see clothes in her size that I think are totally inappropriate, that she shouldn't wear and many other parents would agree with me. So, let me put this out there and give the big difference between can and should. My grammar people, you obviously know that. My contract drafters and lawyers, you definitely know that! So can you draft your own contract? Sure. Anybody can write a contract.

Should you?

No!

Why?

Obviously, lawyers are going to have in-depth knowledge of the contract, drafting the language, and the provisions that should be included in there. We're going to have the ability to contemplate risk and to think of things that you just haven't thought of. That's not your job, that's our job. That's why we're here!

Now what can go wrong? Once we address your own contract, I've seen a lot of things go wrong, but the biggest thing that I see go wrong is that it's not even worth the paper it's written on. They drafted it because they could and now the language is so ambiguous, it's so vague that no one's really clear on what's expected of them. No one's really clear what happens now that we disagree and it just creates a lot of back and forth. Then once we get into litigation, if we even get to litigation, it's costing way more money than it would have if it would have been drafted properly.

Here's the real kicker, did you know that a properly drafted contract can actually avoid litigation in the courtroom all together? That's right, it can. That's another reason why you shouldn't draft your own contracts. Everything I'd like to point out is that a well, properly drafted contract from an attorney, it's gonna save you a ton of money in the long run.

The biggest hurdle I hear from business owners is that it's cost prohibitive to hire an attorney to draft contracts. I'm here to say that that's probably wrong. It's probably more reasonable than you think. The legal world has shifted. We have virtual offices, we have built work with each other across the country, in many situations, and even across the world. It's not the same thing as going in and sitting for a paid hourly consultation, as it may have been in your parent’s day or before that. It is different. So the cost prohibition may not be there.

Secondly, the costs, I can guarantee you, on an attorney to draft your contract is going to be a heck of a lot cheaper than litigation if you don't have a contract. I mean, a heck of a lot cheaper. Maybe even 5% of what litigation would cost you. I've been on both sides of these now and I can say that confidently. So a well drafted contract is definitely worth it.

So can you? Anybody can write something, right? There's stories of contracts being written between two guys in a bar on a napkin, and going to court over it, litigating it. So should you? Absolutely not! You should not draft your own contract. I don't do a lot of things that I probably could do. I don't design my own website, because when I tried that myself, it was terrible. I don't do my own bookkeeping, because it gets to be a bit much and it's not my wheelhouse. And I also don't handle a lot of other things behind the scenes in my business because I really don't know what I'm doing. Could I figure it out? Get it in there and play around and put it together? Sure! But, is that going to serve my business? Is that going to serve my growth? Is that going to protect me? No, it's not!

Most of the time it's either ego getting in the way - I can do it all, I can write my own contracts - or its cost - I just can't afford it. Now, again, if it's cost, you really should re-evaluate what you think and who you talk to. If it's ego, that is just business ownership and it's time to check that at the door. Easier said than done–ask me how I know. But it is time that you get these things properly drafted by someone who knows what they're doing. They can protect your business and ensure that you're not exposing yourself to liabilities, costly litigation, and costly, nasty lawyer letters.