How Curiosity Improves Your Contract Skills with Shahed Kader

In this episode of the You Can Contract Show, Laura Frederick chats with Shahed Kader, Managing Attorney at Kader Law. They explore the intersection of sales, law, and the power of continuous learning.

Shahed shares his quite unconventional journey from selling local newspaper ads door-to-door in 2008 to launching his own tech-enabled law practice ten years later. He discusses his early exposure to contracts in sales and reveals his strategies for becoming proficient in contract drafting and negotiation.

Shahed talks about the power of curiosity when learning contracts. He also shares specific steps he takes to help his current clients learn about contracts and how to negotiate them. 

Key takeaways

Learning contracts.

If you are starting to learn contracts, these five steps will help you.

• Step 1: Get CLE training.
• Step 2: Seek out mentors.
• Step 3: Review publicly available contracts.
• Step 4: Notice publicly available terms of use.

Figuring out contracts.

Staying curious is the best thing you can do. "Staying curious is what helps you truly understand what's being practiced out there. Staying curious means speaking to people who are practitioners — and they're more willing to speak than you could ever imagine."

Dissecting contracts.

Breaking down contracts into pieces and comparing these pieces across multiple contracts helps you see all the variations. This way, you start to understand the opportunities for negotiations and editing.

Educating clients on contracts.

Step 1. Use collaborative tools to involve clients in the drafting process and explain the meaning of each section.

Step 2. Create 2-3-page playbooks.