Maintenance of contracts is an activity aimed at providing legal services in the process of concluding transactions and their execution.
Contract role
An agreement is an agreement giving rise to the rights and obligations of its participants. Without it, there is no economic activity. After all, even the creation of an enterprise is already a deal. All activities of an entrepreneur are based on a continuous chain of contracts and obligations. Hence the need to provide yourself with qualified help.
There is an opinion among lawyers that the contract is being prepared primarily for the future trial. And giving him a minimum of attention is unacceptable. For this reason, contract support continues to develop as a separate area in the legal field.
Who to contact
There are two options:
- hire a lawyer or lawyers;
- seek help from a law firm that will provide services on demand.
The first method is considered more expensive. After all, a lawyer, as an employee, must pay a salary. The second method is recognized as cheaper, but payment is made regularly, regardless of the amount of assistance provided and the complexity of the cases. It is suitable for individual entrepreneurs with a small income.
Companies with their own lawyers apply for similar services if there is a need for specialists with a narrow profile. For example, intellectual property law is considered a complex subject, and it is just such lawyers who understand it.
Maintenance of contracts by specialized firms is gradually gaining momentum.
Form of work in large companies
A medium-sized company employs at least one lawyer. If the number of employees exceeds one hundred, then at least two specialists are taken. Why?
One monitors the implementation of labor laws, the second deals with the maintenance of contracts. Representation in court is ensured by those whose area of responsibility is affected.
Now there is a tendency in state organizations to single out one employee who deals exclusively with contracts under state orders. All other work rests with other specialists. The same thing happens in private organizations.
Specialization of employees in certain types of activities makes their work more efficient. A person who deals only with transactions has the opportunity to hone his skills. It is not surprising that in holdings and other large organizations there are departments for contract support, where each lawyer performs a certain part of the work with them.
Agreement Procedure
The procedure for concluding a contract is presented in several versions:
- oral form;
- writing form;
- notarial form;
Transactions with certain types of property are subject to registration.
An oral agreement is concluded by transferring property or providing a service in exchange for money. Confirmation of the transaction is a receipt and other documents.
Writing is the most common way to conclude. The agreement is printed on paper or generated in electronic form. The text takes from one page to many sheets.
The document is stapled, stamped and signed by the parties or their representatives.
Similarly, an agreement certified by a notary public looks like. The difference is that the text is printed on a special secure form, and in addition to the details of the parties, a notarial signature and its seal are affixed.Naturally, the already agreed text of the contract is signed and certified.
The procedure for concluding an agreement may look different. A proposal is sent to a potential client in the form of a draft contract. It remains for him to put his signature on the finished document, and send it to the sender, leaving himself a second copy.
The person who received the proposal has the right to propose his own corrections by drawing up a protocol of disagreements.
If the dispute cannot be resolved, a lawsuit is filed with the court in order to oblige the other party to conclude the agreement in the wording indicated in the lawsuit.
What is included in the maintenance
Entrepreneurs come up with different questions, if you combine them, you get about the following list:
- development of a draft agreement;
- analysis of the existing contract;
- assistance in negotiating an agreement or amending it;
- monitoring the execution of the agreement, participation in the claim work;
- consultations and other services in which there is a need.
Thus, the conclusion and maintenance of contracts represents a serious amount of work.
Work with the project
Why is legal support of contracts so important at the initial stage?
The law gives parties the freedom to formulate the terms of an agreement. But it has boundaries, and their violation leads to negative consequences. Some are that the agreement is recognized illegal in whole or in part, and the right to demand anything from the counterparty is lost. Others are sanctions by the state. In particular, the tax service imposes fines.
The imbalance of the terms of the contract leads to the fact that one party has an excessive advantage. The agreement thereby becomes enslaving.
Termination of a signed agreement or amendment of its terms is allowed by mutual agreement. Its absence leaves the deal in force. The only one who has the right to make changes only of his own free will is the court at the suit of one of the parties.
Help in negotiations
It consists in proposing options that would suit the other side. Especially when it comes to a single supplier, for example, a monopolist in the field of electricity supplies.
Knowledge of the law and technical nuances positively affects the position of the negotiator.
As described above, the conclusion of the contract is a lengthy procedure with the preparation of a large amount of documentation, if communication is reduced to correspondence or at stake serious amounts.
Analysis of an existing agreement
The contract support specialist gives advice on a contract that has already been signed. What can they be?
If the document is unfair and serves as a source of losses, first of all, the possibilities of early termination of the contract are sought. They are related to violations committed by the second party.
The agreements are valid for a certain time, and in order not to prolong its validity, it is required to declare refusal at the agreed time. Correct wording is no less important than timeliness.
Some categories of transactions, in particular for the provision of services, are allowed to be terminated at the request of the consumer. If there are no grounds, it remains to wait for the moment when the right to withdraw from the contract appears.
Performance monitoring
A lawsuit to recover a breach of contract must be substantiated, and the task of a lawyer is to collect documents and correctly file claims to the counterparty. Without their prior referral, the vast majority of cases in the arbitration system are not opened.
Disputes about the execution of the contract are resolved on the basis of the materials provided. If there are not enough of them or there are inaccuracies in the design, the lawsuit is refused partially or completely.
If it was possible to reach a positive decision in court, the procedure for its implementation is no less a responsible and difficult stage.
What do exactors face:
- poor-quality work of bailiffs of performers (slowness, violation of the law);
- the need to obtain judicial permission to conduct a particular bailiff action.
- debtor's attempts to hide property or make it difficult to impose a penalty on him.
Clients are asked to provide both a full package of services, and some of them. The reasons are their needs and the financial resources that they have.
The cost of maintaining the contract depends on how much work the customer asks to perform and on the region. In capitals, amounts are higher, and in other areas lower. A company or an individual specialist chooses their own policy, but the price difference in one locality is small.