Contract & Lease Dispute Attorneys in Chicago

Why Is It Important to Hire an Attorney for Contract Negotiations & Disputes?

Businesses run on relationships, and legal contracts provide the official form and structure that allows these relationships to work. A contract not only binds two businesses legally, but also the units within the business. The contract is where all sorts of relationships within the company are defined, as well. These include employees, suppliers, business partners, investors, customers, and many other stakeholders.

A contract is the only valid legal document that defines the obligations between parties, along with potential liabilities. That’s why contracts are intricate for any business. Every sentence, word, and even punctuation placement matters in a legal contract.

It can seem trivial, but a misplaced word, punctuation mark, or any minor mistake can leave to serious problems down the road. Contract disputes are among the most common reasons why many small companies face litigation every year. Data shows that from 36 to 53 percent of small-sized companies face litigation at least once a year.

A contract has three phases — drafting, reviewing, and negotiating — and an attorney plays a vital role in each:

• Drafting. Experienced lawyers, such as the team at Markoff Leinberger, make sure the contract is legally valid and binding upon both the parties involved. The attorney ensures the contract has all three relevant parts. These are making an offer, giving the scope for either accepting the offer readily, or asking for reconsiderations. The attorney can make sure the draft doesn’t leave anything open to interpretation. It’s important for the attorney to understand the subjective interest each party brings to the contract, and to then write the contract in such terms that the mutual intent is objectively expressed. Also, the lawyer needs to include all the relevant legal provisions in the contract that would be unknown to non-legal professionals.
• Reviewing. Thanks to the extensive experience contract lawyers such as the team at Markoff Leinberger have in forming contracts, they can easily identify the loopholes in the developing contract. Having worked on umpteen contracts through their careers, they are equipped to understand what specifics need to be in the contract. This allows experienced contract lawyers to identify possible disputes beforehand and change the contract to head them off. Plus, only attorneys can fully understand the legal terminology. The attorney can explain these terms to the client.
• Negotiation. While the contract is first being negotiated between the two parties, each side is biased to protect their own interests. This leads to back and forth negotiating that can lead to a weak contract. This doesn’t serve either party. A contract lawyer can get both parties on the same page and ensure the negotiations proceed neutrally and objectively.

At What Point Should You Hire an Attorney for Contract Negotiation or Dispute?

A contract attorney needs to be involved from the outset of the process of creating the contract. As explained above, attorneys make the steps of drafting, review, and negotiation run smoothly and without any surprises due to misunderstandings or shortcomings in the contract down the road. This isn’t a case where you bring in a lawyer at the last minute to “take a look at the contract.” If you want a contract that works for both parties, leaves no grey areas open to misunderstanding, and is negotiated in the best interests of both sides, an attorney needs to be part of the entire process.

How Do You Claim a Breach of Contract?

When one party doesn’t fulfill any of its contractual obligations, this is known as a “breach” of the contract. These vary with the contract, but a breach can occur when a party fails to perform on time, doesn’t perform in accordance with the terms of the contract, or does not perform at all.

There are four elements of a breach of contract claim:

• There was a valid contract;
• You performed your part of the contract;
• The defendant failed to perform their part of the contract; and
• You sustained damages caused by the defendant’s breach.

What Is the Common Remedy for a Breach of Contract?

The most common legal remedy for a breach of contract is compensatory damages. When compensatory damages are awarded, a court orders the person that breached the contract to pay the other person enough money to get what they were promised in the contract elsewhere.