Over the years I have handled countless cases where people sign contracts that they should have had reviewed by a lawyer and did not do so with disastrous consequences. Whether you are signing an employment agreement, a contract for the sale or purchase of real estate, a contract for the purchase of equipment, a construction contract or a loan agreement you should protect your legal rights by having it reviewed by an attorney. In the employment area, you may unwittingly sign away your rights to seek other employment if you leave your employer if there is a non-compete within your employment contract. With a contract to build a home or a commercial property, you may want to add warranty provisions or provisions to protect the payments that you make so that you are not required to make the payments again if your contractors fail to pay the subcontractors and/or material men. If you are selling a piece of real estate you want to ensure that the number of contingencies is minimal or in that in some cases you have an absolute deal without any contingencies. With respect to the purchase of equipment, you may want to protect yourself by ensuring that you have appropriate warranties, that there are provisions for penalties if the equipment is not timely supplied and that there are provisions to protect you in the event that the equipment is defective. With a loan agreement, you want to determine if the interest rate is appropriate, whether there are personal guarantees involved, whether there is collateral involved and other valuable rights which need to be protected. If you are a landlord or if you are a tenant signing a lease you should have the lease reviewed to make sure that your rights are protected in the event of non-payment, in the event that there are problems at the property that need to be corrected, provisions for the maintenance of the property during the term of the lease, that there are protections in the event you wish to terminate the lease and provisions for renewals of the lease.

The failure to have a lawyer spend an hour or two to review a contract can lead to disastrous consequences if you sign a contract without having it properly reviewed.