Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Where can I find good legal documents?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 81 posts

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

#61

Post by jakestein »

navigate8310 wrote: post #59
jakestein wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the mention and kind words! I’m one of the cofounders of Common Paper, happy to answer any questions. Our docs are free, released under creative comments, have been downloaded more than 17,000 times and used to close millions of dollars worth of deals. If you’re not sure what kind of contract you need, this blog post might help: https://commonpaper.com/blog/saas-contracts/

Are there any templates for businesses that are engaged in manufacturing bespoke electrical components for their B2B customers?

We're focused on B2B software companies, so we don't have any templates for that use case. I'm not aware of publicly available templates serving bespoke manufacturers, but I'd love to learn about them if you find any

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

#62

Post by toomuchtodo »

ethbr1 wrote: post #50
shermantanktop wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend in a messy divorce. With custody, all rational thought has gone out the window. Cost of lawyers? Doesn’t matter, sue! Need to comply or get fined? Don’t care. Court ordered therapy? Don’t feel like it. The pockets that fund this behavior will be empty at some point. But until then, primal irrational impulses are running the show. In a case like that, the difference between the right legal docs and the…

Legal divorce proceedings are like wedding planning, except every professional around you instead has a financial incentive to make you as angry and mean as possible, because it means more billable hours.

I have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars incinerated on legal fees due to this. Very accurate!

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

#63

Post by chris-orgmenta »

jakestein wrote: post #61
navigate8310 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any templates for businesses that are engaged in manufacturing bespoke electrical components for their B2B customers?

We're focused on B2B software companies, so we don't have any templates for that use case. I'm not aware of publicly available templates serving bespoke manufacturers, but I'd love to learn about them if you find any

> We're focused on B2B software companies

Out of interest, is that a permanent(ish) decision, or are you intending to use that as a spring board, eventually aiming for industry-agnostic?

Thanks

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

#64

Post by PatentlyDC123 »

CPLX wrote: post #58
traceroute66 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's a waste of resources for small simple businesses that may never go anywhere. As per my original post. That statement is one made from the comfortable armchair of somebody who has not had to litigate off the back of a free/cheap ready-made contract. What is a waste of resources is paying a lawyer to try to get you off the hook for something that could have reasonably been in the contract in the first place had…

Are you a lawyer? Only lawyers with something to sell or people working entirely in hypotheticals talk like this. People who have actually hired lawyers and litigated things know what a shit show it all is. > As per my original post. That statement is one made from the comfortable armchair of somebody who has not had to litigate off the back of a free/cheap ready-made contract. I've done exactly that. You can create…

You make great points. One of my law professors always said, "clear communication makes for long relationships." He was a small town lawyer that explained our job included: - making sure both parties understood exactly what the contract meant (legally, businesswise, etc.), and - asking the parties to talk through any issues (business, legal, etc.) that could arise and how they might want to handle the issue.

Different parties cover these two points in all sorts of ways. You're right, it doesn't necessarily make sense to hire an attorney when the parties are on equal footing, experienced, clearly understand each other's duties, and don't really disagree on how to proceed should an issue arise.

It's kind of like hiring a designer/firm for a website. Some will overcharge for a Wordpress template or they might charge big fees to give you a robust solution that is extreme overkill for your application. But, if you find the right designer/attorney, they will work with you to meet your financial and business needs. That seems to be the hardest part.

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

#65

Post by gumby »

aristofun wrote: post #27
gumby wrote: post #8

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

I couldn’t find any generator on their site

Try this: https://launch.wilmerhale.com/#bannerExplore and scroll down to a bubble called "Document generator". Or just search for "launchpad" on their site.

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

#66

Post by HWR_14 »

dylan604 wrote: post #45
samstave wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry - I am looking for properly formatting, the fact that their case is custody was useless info I guess... I just want to ensure that documents are formatted properly... that was all.

just to pile on, but forgoing a lawyer in a custody case is the definition of not smart. just don't do it.

In a contentious custody case, this is very true. If the parents are splitting up and agree on a plan that they both like, the lawyer becomes far less necessary. Although then the lawyer is very cheap and probably still worth it.

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

#67

Post by aristofun »

gumby wrote: post #65
aristofun wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn’t find any generator on their site

Try this: https://launch.wilmerhale.com/#bannerExplore and scroll down to a bubble called "Document generator". Or just search for "launchpad" on their site.

thank you!

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

#68

Post by traceroute66 »

grepfru_it wrote: post #51
traceroute66 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $500 today can save you from a $5M lawsuit tomorrow. Yup. I've had one or two clients make all sorts of threats at me, accusing me of stuff when it was caused by their inactions. But then funnily enough, when they finally get round to paying their lawyers to look at the contract they signed, they find they don't have a leg to stand on or at least they'll struggle to make a worthwhile case.

My liability insurance asks who drafts the legal agreements in engagements and, if it is my company, they explicitly ask if a lawyer is involved.

> My liability insurance asks who drafts the legal agreements in engagements and, if it is my company, they explicitly ask if a lawyer is involved.

Yup.

This is precisely one of the points I was getting at.

If your business has liability insurance and ESPECIALLY if your business has professional indemnity insurance, then really you have zero option but to pay a lawyer to draft a contract.

Read the proposal form you signed. Read the small print of the insurance. And most important of all, remember how insurance works, the insurance company expects you to have made a reasonable effort to mitigate your losses.

By being a cheapskate and using a free/cheap ready-made template from the internet, the insurance company would be well within their rights to argue that you had not made a reasonable effort to mitigate your losses and the loss adjusters will adjust your payout downwards accordingly.

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

#69

Post by jakestein »

chris-orgmenta wrote: post #63
jakestein wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're focused on B2B software companies, so we don't have any templates for that use case. I'm not aware of publicly available templates serving bespoke manufacturers, but I'd love to learn about them if you find any

> We're focused on B2B software companies Out of interest, is that a permanent(ish) decision, or are you intending to use that as a spring board, eventually aiming for industry-agnostic? Thanks

In the long term, we'll expand out from that. It will be industry by industry, since the contracts you need for eg manufacturing or catering are going to be very different than software.

Some of our agreements, like the NDA, are already used in other industries since they are more industry agnostic

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

#70

Post by anjel »

grepfru_it wrote: post #35
fortran77 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. These free legal documents are great—until you have to litigate one.

Extending this thread because it costs maybe max 2 hours of consult time with a lawyer to put one together. $500 today can save you from a $5M lawsuit tomorrow. And even then you should still read it and become intimately knowledgeable with each provision

The advice is golden, however the hourly rate is about ten years old. Expect to pay a minimum of $400 hourly rate. (Free initial telephone consults are still easy to find and I have cumulatively learned a lot stacking multiple free consults together)
Post reply on HN