COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS
Are you looking for a reliable lawyer to help you with your commercial contract needs? Our solicitors are available to provide professional and cost-effective advice on all types of contracts.
How Our Contract Lawyers Can Assist You and Your Company
Allow us to use our knowledge and years of experience to help you with your contract law matters.
We offer five types of contract law legal services:
- Review of legal documents and contracts
- Contract drafting and preparation
- Contract negotiations
- Litigation and contract dispute resolution
- Defense and prosecution of a breach of contract lawsuit
Contract negotiation, drafting, and review services help clients safeguard their interests and rights before entering into a contract. Dispute resolution and breach of contract representation help ensure that clients can enforce a contract after it has been signed.
What is your current situation?
YOU REQUIRE A CONTRACT THAT...
- Uses simple language and prepares you for negotiations.
- Will be based on a template contract, but will need to be double-checked to ensure its accuracy.
- Reflects how your company operates
- Will safeguard your company if something goes wrong.
- Will not scare off your counterpart when negotiating
- Avoid using unnecessary jargon.
YOU'VE BEEN SENT A CONTRACT TO SIGN, AND...
- You are not confident about most of it but remain uncertain about some parts
- The clauses do not say what you expected.
- You have been asked a question that you are unable to answer.
- You've gotten a contract revision and are unsure how to handle it.
- You don't see any way out of the deal if something goes wrong.
- It is written in such a way that you might be trapped but have no idea what to do.
YOU ARE BOUND BY A CONTRACT WHICH...
- Returns with numerous change requests and redefines
- You lose business because the contract is too complicated.
- Money is wasted due to inquiries, training, and delays.
- Makes it difficult to close new business.
- New products and services needs to be added.
- It means one thing to you, but another thing to your counterpart.
- Preparation time causes a distraction from business.
Agreements, Contracts, and Deeds
Do you need a competent and reasonably priced contract lawyer?
Look no further than Mark Gustavsson and Associates. If you need help drafting or revising a contract, or if you need to settle a legal disagreement, contact our lawyers.
The contracts we assist clients with reviewing at Mark Gustavsson and Associates include:
- Service and Consultancy Agreements
- Franchise Agreements
- Sale of Business Agreements
- Employment and Contractor Agreements
- License Agreements
- Loan Agreements
- Distribution and Supply Agreements
- Joint Venture and Partnership Agreements
- Shareholder's Agreements
- Confidentiality Agreements
Contact us if you have any questions about a contract. Additionally, we can help with business acquisitions and sales, business structuring, commercial leasing, contract drafting, loans, trademark registration and franchising. You will receive a quote from our team of business lawyers.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
It is the document that details the terms of a commercial agreement between two or more parties.
Any variety of agreements are covered by the term “commercial contract,” including
- A business purchase agreement
- A contract for the provision of goods or services
- A contract for sales and distribution
- A contract for a joint venture
- A contract for agency
a contract for a franchise under which a firm would be run - A general service contract
- Terms and conditions for Trading
Sometimes they are referred to as “B2B” or “business-to-business” contracts.
If there is a misunderstanding or disagreement and the terms of the agreement are not in writing, it cannot be proven what was originally agreed. To avoid being in a situation where it is “your word against theirs,” our commercial lawyers strongly advise having written contracts.
Each contract will be slightly different to reflect the specifics of the two parties’ arrangement. Some clauses, however, are standard and cover topics such as:
- the parties’ information,
- the start date,
- what is and how it is to be provided/performed,
- how payment will be calculated and made,
- representations and warranties,
- disputes,
- default events,
- liability limitations,
- termination,
- variation,
- and governing law
Some of these may appear as an appendix or schedule rather than in the agreement’s main body (for example, the method of calculating payments).
There are several ways to begin the process of putting a commercial contract in place.
- Do you have a contract that you can use? Request that your lawyer review and modify it to reflect the current deal.
- If you don’t have a contract and need to provide one, what should you do? Request that your solicitor send you a document based on what you’ve agreed to so far.
- If you were sent one to sign? Read it for yourself to see if it reflects what you believe you agreed to. Then send it to your lawyer for review and negotiation.
Good faith is a concept rather than a defined term that the courts can interpret.
If the wording ‘good faith’ is included in your contract and there is a dispute about whether one party acted in ‘good faith,’ a court will consider the circumstances of the contract as long as the good faith wording in the contract isn’t too vague for the court to interpret its meaning.
If ‘good faith’ is to be included, both parties must agree on what it means and what actions/steps each party will take (or not take) to be considered in ‘good faith.’
In contrast to consumer law, there is no ‘cooling off’ period in business-to-business contracts. If you want to cancel orders or return goods, this should be clearly stated in the contract before signing.
Contracts can be amended or updated if both parties agree. This is referred to as contract variation by solicitors.
If your counterparty refuses to change, consider how long the contract has to run and/or whether you have the option to terminate it. You could then renegotiate a new deal and contract, or you could seek out a different supplier and negotiate better contractual terms.
Seek legal advice before attempting to vary a contract because you may face financial and legal penalties if you do not follow the correct procedure (which may be outlined in the ‘Amendment’ or ‘Variation’ clause) or do not have the grounds to terminate.
The commercial lawyers at Mark Gustavsson and Associates are not only professionals at drafting and negotiating clear commercial contracts to avoid issues in the first place, but they also specialise in business dispute resolution if a conflict does develop. Please contact the our team if you require any additional information.