Contract Drafting Essentials
(Or subscribe to access.)
Businesses run on commitments that are reduced to written contracts. In fact, the entire economy functions on the backbone of contracts. This entails contracting to bind the parties as regards their future conduct so that the promises are performed without any disputes. This requires contracting parties to come up with multifarious scenarios and agree upon a particular course of action, often in situations where both parties’ interests might diverge. The act of drafting necessitates mastering not merely the art of legal writing but also of understanding the nature of the transaction and the risks that might be involved in it.
This course explains each clause in a typical contract which will enable you draft, vet, or examine contracts to safeguard your or your client's interests. The course also provides you with relevant checklists to use while drafting and some sample agreements, for example, Gift deeds, Lease deeds, Licence agreements, Sale deeds, and Employment agreements.
Course Details
- Level - Intermediate
- Total no. of videos - 73
- Total no. of assignments - 68
Modernity is a deal. The entire contract can be summarised in a single phrase: humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power.
Yuval Noah Harari- 1. Introduction
- 1.1 Welcome
- 2. Drafting Agreements: The Prelude
- 2.1 Purposes of contract law
- 2.2 Why draft agreements?
- 2.3 Default and mandatory rules
- 2.4 Incomplete contracts
- 2.5 Vagueness and ambiguity
- 2.6 Transaction costs
- 3. Language and Style in Contract Drafting
- 3.1 Using correct language
- 3.2 Using punctuation
- 3.3 Keeping in mind grammar and style
- 3.4 Using active voice
- 4. Pre-contractual Instruments
- 4.1 What is a pre-contractual instrument?
- 4.2 Term sheet
- 4.3 Letter of intent
- 4.4 Letter of award
- 4.5 Memorandum of understanding
- 5. Introductory Parts of an Agreement
- 5.1 Introductory parts of an agreement
- 5.2 Title of the agreement
- 5.3 Date of the agreement
- 5.4 Place of execution
- 5.5 Recitals
- 6. Definitions, Interpretation and Other Clauses
- 6.1 Introducing the definition clause
- 6.2 Interpretation clause
- 6.3 Conflicts provision
- 6.4 Entire agreement clause
- 6.5 Severability clause
- 6.6 No oral modification clause
- 6.7 No waiver clause
- 7. Performance
- 7.1 Performance related clauses
- 7.2 Performance related clauses and obligations
- 7.3 Technical standards and specifications
- 8. Other Clauses
- 8.1 Representations and warranties
- 8.2 Time as essence
- 8.3 Contract closing
- 8.4 Force majeure clause
- 8.5 Intellectual property rights clauses
- 8.6 Assignment clause
- 9. Remedies for Contractual Breaches
- 9.1 Contractual breach
- 9.2 Suspension clause
- 9.3 Termination clause
- 10. Specific Performance and Other Remedies
- 10.1 Specific performance
- 10.2 Substituted performance or risk and cost contracting
- 10.3 Contractual set-off
- 11. Price, Payment, Taxes and Duties
- 11.1 Price clause
- 11.2 Time of payment, payment milestone and mode of payment
- 11.3 Escrow arrangement
- 11.4 Currency clause
- 11.5 Taxes and duties clause
- 12. Confidentiality Agreements and Clauses
- 12.1 Importance of confidentiality clause or agreement
- 12.2 Contents and parties to a confidentiality clause
- 13. Dispute Resolution Clauses
- 13.1 Dispute resolution clause
- 13.2 Dispute resolution by arbitration and expert determination
- 13.3 Pathological arbitration clauses
- 13.4 Avoiding pathological arbitration clauses
- 13.5 Expert determination or valuation
- 14. International Agreements
- 14.1 Challenges faced in international agreements
- 14.2 Choice of law clause
- 14.3 Notice clause
- 14.4 Language clause
- 15. Some Common Agreements - I
- 15.1 Introduction
- 15.2 Bank guarantees
- 15.3 Function of bank guarantees
- 15.4 Conditional and unconditional bank guarantees
- 15.5 Structure of unconditional bank guarantees
- 15.6 Corporate guarantees
- 15.7 Indemnity bonds
- 16. Some Common Agreements - II
- 16.1 Introduction
- 16.2 Gift deeds
- 16.3 Lease deeds
- 16.4 Licence agreements
- 16.5 Sale deeds
- 16.6 Employment agreement
- 17. Conclusion
- 17.1 Conclusion
- Audit Section
- Audit Sub-section
WHY TAKE THIS COURSE?
Drafting agreements form an important part of the fundamental skill set of lawyers irrespective of the path they choose in law— be it as an advocate, a legal advisor, or a transactional lawyer. Drafting agreements not only requires knowledge of the law but also the necessary language skills to reduce thoughts into words.
While an advanced course on contract drafting would equip the students to draft complex agreements and transactions, it is prudent to approach contract drafting progressively with an increasing order of difficulty and a decreasing order of generality. Therefore, this course is designed to equip the students with basic knowledge on drafting agreements that lawyers encounter in their daily professional life. The course would be particularly useful for those who aspire to work in transactional practice, especially in law firms and as in-house counsels in corporations/banks. In this course you’ll learn:
- the fundamental skills in drafting agreements,
- the real-world applications of contract drafting, and
- to relate contract law as taught in the classroom to law in practice.
PREREQUISITES
You can take this course, if:
- You are a law student, a recent law graduate, or a practising lawyer who wants to understand the requirements of contract drafting
- You have a basic understanding of legal practice and procedure
- You are a specialist in a non-law field but wish to learn the essentials of drafting agreements
Instructors
Badrinath Srinivasan
Badrinath Srinivasan is a Senior Executive (Law) in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited with more than a decade of experience in commercial and industrial laws. He had got several papers of his published in reputed journals such as Supreme Court Cases, The Economic and Political Weekly, etc. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK, and a Fellow of the Insurance Institute of India. He writes regularly at the Practical Academic Blog.
For want of a comma, we have this case.
Judge Barron, Kevin O’Connor v. Oakhurst DairyCertificate
Complete this course and exercises to earn a certificate. Share it with your friends, colleagues, and employers.*
*You must Subscribe to get a certificate.
