Drafting Contracts - Basic Principles

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Description
My first unintended stint with contract drafting began when I was in Class VI in school. Computers had made their way into the legal profession, and like most parents, mine too found it difficult to navigate the new technology. Therefore, my mother dictated a sale deed to me, and I typed it out and printed it. I used to type for my parents off and on for petitions, agreements, notices, and other legal work. Like a sponge in disguise, I was learning drafting without realising it. Despite doing well in my drafting, pleading, and conveyancing course (thanks to dictations from my parents), when I first joined Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co., I was given a shareholders agreement. Apart from the million questions in my mind, I had never heard of a shareholders agreement in the first place. Like many students, my knowledge of company law was limited to the  emorandum of association and articles of association. Despite having graduated from one of the finest law schools, I found my knowledge of the law and commercial drafting grossly inadequate.
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Table of Contents
1. Understanding Contract Drafting
2. Understanding the Drafting Process
3. Effective Language in Contract Drafting
4. Introducing Contract
5. Defining the Contours of the Contract
6. Operative Clauses
7. Termination, Remedies and Exemption Clauses
8. Boilerplate
9. Dispute Resolution Clauses
10. Concluding a Contract
11. Reviewing Contracts
12. Checklists
Subject Index
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Author Details
Dr AJAR RAB, Partner, Rab & Rab Associates LLP BA LLB (Hons.), NLSIU, Bangalore Master of Law and Business, Bucerius Law School/WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management Doctor of Law, Bucerius Law School, Germany
Foreword by
MR ANUJ PRASAD, Partner & Head - Aerospace and Defence, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, New Delhi