Every contractual agreement between 2+ parties deserves individualized attention and scrutiny. Whether it be an operating agreement; employment contract; licensing agreement; NDA; or franchise agreement, the document at issue is unique and must be respected and treated as such.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say your business is booming and you now must lease additional space to accommodate your growing business. You find a suitable space and the landlord’s attorney sends over a nice, 7-page lease agreement. You email the agreement to your attorney for review. Next day, your attorney calls and, without bringing attention anything else, informs you that the lease “looks standard” and to go ahead and sign.
What do you do? Do you merely sign this “standard” contract?
No!
My advice: Run.
There is nothing “standard” pertaining to the above contractual scenario. That so-called “standard” lease uniquely relates to that particular business and that particular business owner’s livelihood. Therefore, it is unique to the business owner and every item deserves attention. (I promise…there is SOMETHING in that document that should be modified/tailored to strengthen and benefit your position.)
Lastly, don’t be fooled by ads and commercials. We’ve all seen advertisements for online companies selling plug-and-play legal templates to business owners at cheap rates. However, these fill-in-the-blank online templates are hardly ideal. These generic online companies provide documents that are not tailored to you and your specific business needs often leading to headache and a much larger mess to clean-up ($$$).
There is not a ONE SIZE FITS ALL solution when dealing with contractual agreements.
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