Mistakes to avoid when working with contracts — advice for new lawyers and professionals (with a story)

Taking your first steps as a contract lawyer or professional can be extremely hard.

But there are things that can make it easier.

Knowing what mistakes to avoid from the start can help you save time, get better at contracts, and advance your career much faster.

That’s why we want to share this super short piece of advice from a lawyer with over 20 years of experience. We hope it can steer you in the right direction if you are starting your career in contracts.

Here it is.

“Try to avoid rushing. Especially in-house, your client will pressure you to turn contracts around as quickly as possible.

Whenever I can, I try to allow at least two separate days to review and redline a contract, even if it will only take me a few hours in total. Putting the document aside and coming back to it with fresh eyes will help you spot things that you may have missed the first time you reviewed it.

Towards the end of a client’s fiscal year, I was negotiating a contract that would end up being their largest deal yet, so it was under a lot of scrutiny and I was under a lot of time pressure. In a rush to turn around a draft, I accidentally accepted a redline that added a term that I knew my client would not agree to, but I overlooked it. 

Had I allowed myself to come back to the contract the next day, I probably would have spotted my error. 

Instead, I did not catch it until after the contract was signed and I was preparing a contract summary. I just had to admit my mistake to the client and promise to be more careful next time (and to promise myself that I wouldn’t rush, no matter how much time pressure I am under).”

Wishing you success!