**Seeking the Ideal Contract Review Attorney in Your Vicinity**

**Decoding Contract Review and Oversight Services**

Contracts are vital tools that help individuals and businesses deal with suppliers, clients, employees, and a large range of other entities. Contracts usually serve to protect the interests of the parties involved, but also usually contain language that heavily favors one of the parties. This bias in wording can drastically alter the terms of the agreement if they are left unchallenged. The contract review process is all about identifying the important details and ensuring that they serve the purpose of the contract without disadvantaging any of the signatories. Through the review process , your contract review lawyer will ensure that the document meets the legal requirements for the given situation. Sometimes, your contract review lawyer will suggest alternative clauses that would more equally divide the benefits and burdens of the contracted terms. In any case, the contract review process and revision of the document can save you from disaster and potentially huge liabilities associated with ambiguity or other imbalanced contract language.

**The Rationale for a Local Contract Lawyer**

When you are looking for a contract review lawyer, you will want someone who is familiar with your local area laws and can provide you with the best assistance possible in negotiating and drafting your contracts. There are a lot of things that go into having a good contract, including whether or not it is enforceable, meets the requirements for the State that the parties reside in, or where the contract will be performed, and meets any obligations that are required by the State.
Even though some States do not require contract attorneys to be licensed within the State, it can help if you are working with a lawyer that is familiar with the laws and rules within your State.
If you are in a position where you could have to sue someone over a contract, it will be important to have a lawyer who has a good standing within your local court system. A local lawyer can tell you whether or not it is worth your time to file a lawsuit, and can help you decide how to proceed. If you were to hire outside of your local area, you would end up spending a lot of time and money travelling to and from that lawyer’s office, which can be costly.
If you need to have a lawyer that is going to be available for meetings where they will need to review documents, it will be beneficial for you to have a contract review lawyer that is local to your area. Some people need to be able to meet with their lawyer on a regular basis, and having to travel great distances can be difficult.

**Selecting the Appropriate Contract Lawyer Close to Your Area**

When in search of a contract review lawyer, there are a handful of things to base your selection criteria on. The easiest one, of course, is location. The contract review lawyer you find must be located in your area. There are also many more practical considerations.
First, I would suggest finding a contract review lawyer that has a few years of documented experience reviewing contracts. You do not want someone that has only been doing this for a little while, unless that attorney has a strong background. Second, experience and practice in a concentrated area of the law, such as corporate contracts may be a necessity for your situation. General practice attorneys that do not practice in the cognitive field of contracts may not be the best option to review contracts. Third, client testimonials. This really is worth looking at but not the end all be all. A couple of bad client testimonials is not necessarily the end of the world. However, if they are all bad, that may be a concern.
Once the initial review is done, you should have a short list of a few options to choose from. With a curveball fact scenario, it may not seem that way. In that case, I suggest a westlaw or lexis nexis search. Look for attorneys that have published articles on the subject.
Finally, I do not see why you should not try to get along with the contract review lawyer. There could be surprising benefits. At the very least, open lines of communication can help you get your answers.

**Customary Charges for Contract Oversight Services**

The average cost of hiring a contract review attorney can be as little as $500 to as much as $6,000. Hiring a contract review attorney is generally less expensive than the damages that can result from a poorly written contract. If there is an issue with a contract after it has been signed it could be very costly to correct the issue.
Contract attorneys usually bill by the hour so the more complex the contract the more hours that are needed to complete the review. Every contract is unique but there are certain factors that can increase the cost . Breakdown of these factors that could lead to increased cost:
• Length of the contract
• Urgency of review (if the client needs the review completed within a few days it could cost a little more)
• Industry specific knowledge (if the contract is specific to a certain industry and the attorney has no experience with that industry)
• Whether to have your attorney negotiate the contract with the other party
• Submit the reviewed contract back to you for changes
• Call and discuss issues with the contract
The contract review process should not take long but there is significant up front time spent to read and analyze the contract. But only if the contract is understandable and already negotiates well will the attorney speed up the review process significantly.

**Inquiries to Pose to Your Contract Lawyer**

It is important to get a detailed evaluation of the contract you need reviewed. Most initial evaluations are "free", however, some may have a fee. Either way, you need to have sufficient information so there are no surprises. You want to know any and all fees involved. In most cases, you don’t need a contract lawyer on retainer, but if you do, you should ask about the retainer, refund, and hourly rates. You want to know how you can contact them outside of appointments. This could be a cell phone number, e-mail, fax, etc. Be sure to ask. You want to know what experience the attorney has with your type of case. Most contract lawyers specialize, so it may be impossible to get an experienced lawyer on the exact subject matter; however, follow-up questions regarding their trial experience is acceptable. You also want to talk about the methods of communication for when you have a question or concern. Aside from emergency situations, you should be able to get an answer or a call back (this doesn’t have to happen immediately). Particularly concerning children, most will agree that it is important to be able to communicate directly with your lawyer. Finally, you should trust your contract lawyer. You are paying them to represent you, and trust is a huge part of that relationship.

**Case Studies: Contract Review Successes**

Here are some case studies of situations where the review of a contract by an attorney prevented a lawsuit from being filed or saved thousands of dollars:
Tax The Limbs
Client needed some work done on his property. After getting an estimate, he started talking with the contractor about price. The client got one of those phrases that lawyers hate to hear, "Contractor’s friend". According to the contractor, "my friend said he could do this work for much less than it costs to do it right." Client realized then that the best way to find out what work should be done was to call an attorney to review the estimate.
The attorney reviewed the estimate and decided that it was fine. The client went back to the contractor and pointed out the flaw in the contractor’s mathematics – what he thought was an extra zero in the price. He explained that he understood how to properly measure the area, but re-measurements indicated that the contractor was, indeed, incorrect about the size of the area that the client wanted to have filled. The contractor realized that he had made a mistake, and saw the logic in the attorney’s review of the work. When it came time to pay the bill , the client had avoided paying a bill that was two times greater than the price estimate.
Bad Deal
A client received a phone call from a known national construction company that wanted to provide him with a crab warehouse. The deal sounded like an incredible bargain, as the warehouse was offered without any payments until the end of a three-year lease. The conversation continued for several months as the construction company indicated they were having difficult locating an appropriate location to do their work. Without ever having met the client, parts were ordered. A quote was provided, and a contract was drawn up.
The client said that the lease was for a very long time. The phone calls continued for another year, and the client realized that there was no warehouse development on the property. It was only then that the client began thinking it would be a good idea to discuss the matter with an attorney.
The attorney explained that the concept of a business lease would be to avoid having the warehouse on the property at the end of three years. The attorney required that changes be made in the lease. As a result, the warehouse was never built, and the client avoided paying an exorbitant rent for a building that never existed. While this client anticipated that he would be stuck with a building that was never intended to be built, and without the wherewithal to remove it, he also saved on taxes.