Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#1

Post by yonom » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 12:27 PM UTC

Whenever I start a new (side) project, getting the website set up with T&C, Privacy Policy, etc. is a pain point.

Here are a couple sources I've found:

- Common Paper (NDA, TOS, SLA, DPA, CSA, ...)

- YC Safe (Fundraising)

- Clerky (Fundraising, Employment, ...)

Looking for more resources like these.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#2

Post by Brajeshwar » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:16 PM UTC

Here are some early Startup related ideas, links, tools that I gather to not repeat my answers to founders asking for them. For Legals, please go to https://docs.inboxstartup.com/operate/legal

Quite a lot of the founders from the mentioned links/startup/companies are friends or part of a cohort. This is a like an Inbox and I might need to keep cleaning them up.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#3

Post by arshakarap » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:21 PM UTC

There are some templates that might be helpful here: https://www.techcontracts.com/contracts

However, if you want to start something big, it's better to find a lawyer to draft your legal documents, especially the ones you publish online (from a lawyer).

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#4

Post by rossant » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:23 PM UTC

You could try Termly: https://termly.io/

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#5

Post by idiotsecant » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:29 PM UTC

Free legal documents are worth what you pay for them.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#6

Post by born2discover » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:42 PM UTC

idiotsecant wrote: post #5

Free legal documents are worth what you pay for them.

This actually depends. If you need something specific, tailored to your needs and operational niche, then obviously you can not forego a visit to a lawyer. However, for some documents, a reputable template is more than enough. (As even lawyers rarely draft "bespoke" documents for every client and happen to use a templated text more often than not).

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#7

Post by phonon » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:51 PM UTC

https://www.cooleygo.com/documents/

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#8

Post by gumby » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:56 PM UTC

Wilmerhale has a document generator for a lot of what you need. No need to log in, create an account etc. I use these.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#9

Post by haebom » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 1:56 PM UTC

I had a similar problem and found that the ones I made from free sites or using different terminology are often wrong or say the wrong things that don't fit our service. In the end, we outsourced it to a professional legal service. (The ones that make them for free or for a fraction of the cost are often templated and fill-in-the-blank, which is attractive, but has obvious limitations).

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

#10

Post by smohnot » Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 2:00 PM UTC

For those not familiar: Common Paper https://commonpaper.com/standards/ seems to have the best free standard docs.

Here's the post where they describe it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36043944

here's another one: https://www.avodocs.com/