The Write Way: The Power in Owning the Drafting

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you let the other party take control of drafting a contract? Maybe you thought it would save time or you trusted them to be fair.

That doesn’t always turn out as you hoped.

I once had a client who trusted the other party to draft a contract for their deal. When she received the contract, she was shocked to find that it heavily favored the other party and included several hidden gotchas.

After some negotiations, we were able to get some concessions, but it was a difficult and time-consuming process. Even if you manage to get concessions, it’s never as favorable is it would be if you draft the first draft, because:

1. It's hard to catch all the advantages they've built in

2. It's hard to get them to accept your changes

3. It's hard to review while staying focused on your key risks when you didn't write it

Writing makes you think. Revising someone else's writing makes you think about the deal very differently and is a huge disadvantage.