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"We acquired a company in Europe in April 2004 with an office in the UK, and have been using Waterfront... for our legal needs there. The advice given to me by the firm is excellent - very timely, sound legal advice applied with practical common sense and an understanding of the commercial context in which we operate."
Moana Weir, Legal Counsel and Company Secretary, Melbourne IT Ltd
Basic Elements of a Contract
Here are some basic contents that are usually found in Commercial Contracts:
- an effective date at the top;
- the parties' full legal names and addresses;
- the "recitals" (often under the heading "Whereas"), which spell out the basic purposes of the agreement;
- a statement "The parties agree..." or "It is agreed that...";
- numbered clauses setting out what is agreed;
- including a first clause that sets out some definitions for terms that are used throughout the agreement, each beginning with a capital letter;
- and, ending with the so-called "boilerplate" clauses, which are clauses that appear in a similar form in all agreements;
- Some examples are: a clause which says that "this is the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the subject matter of this agreement and replaces all previous agreements..." and a clause which says that the law governing the contract is English law;
- signature boxes for each party's representatives to sign;
- finally, any annexes or schedules, which normally (though not always) set out factual information such as lists of prices, descriptions of products and/or services, or similar items.