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Who enforces contracts?

Judges. Ultimately, when it comes down to it, it is judges who enforce contracts. This is why it is important to involve a contract negotiation lawyer when drafting and negotiating your contract. The reason why we enter into contracts is to make sure that we have certain rights in a relationship. I enter into a contract with my home builder to make sure he does the work he promised and contractor wants to make sure he gets paid for his work. We also have other terms about professionalism, timelines, and remedies if things go sour. But at the end of the day, neither party can make the other party do anything. If I don't pay, the contractor can not steal money from my purse or force my bank to turn over the money. So the contractor has to go to court to get his money.

This is how contracts get enforced. The parties must go to court. In this case, the contractor may sue me for the money he believes I owe. However, I can also present my defenses such as the contractor not completing the job or doing very poor quality work. At this point, the judge will determine which terms are enforceable and how much the contractor is owed. In this case, the judge determines that I should pay 25% of what the contractor claims but agrees with me that the contractor's work was terrible so I should not have to pay the ...

Danya Shakfeh has been selected as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers once again for the 6th year in a row.

The Rising Stars list recognizes lawyers 40 years old or younger or in practice for 10 years or less, and includes no more than 2.5 percent of attorneys in Illinois.

If you read your contract carefully, you may find a clause that reads something to the effect of:

Automatic Renewal. This Agreement shall be automatically extended for one additional year, unless on or before [DATE] (for the initial term), either Party provides to the other written notice of its desire not to terminate this Agreement 60 days before the termination date.

This is called an 'automatic renewal clause' and sometimes known as an 'evergreen clause.' They can be convenient in some instances where you want to commit to something long term or you have a membership that you are happy with. But I've seen some of these go pretty south, especially when one party is not happy with the services and wants to terminate.

As I've written about before, people are free to put in their contracts almost anything they want. However, some contract terms are not enforceable, even if the parties agree to them. Or sometimes the law or courts have conditions for certain terms to be enforceable. Automatic Renewal clauses, specifically when the relationship is a business to consumer (B2C) contract, are in fact regulated in Illinois by the Automatic Contract Renewal Act (ACRA), 815 ILCS 601. ACRA, in short, states when a business as an automatic renewal clause, then the business must make the renewal clause 'clear and conspicuous' and include the cancellation clause.

But that is not enough. The business must also provide a written reminder to ...

Contracts are an essential part of both our professional and personal lives. As humans, we deal with contracts almost daily, often without even realizing it. Whether a company wants to come and provide a service to our home or we are in the process of closing a business deal we review, negotiate, and sign contracts almost daily. Unfortunately, many contracts are poorly written resulting in conflict and lawsuits. There are many reasons for this, and I, as an Illinois contracts law lawyer, will explain below why poorly written contracts exist begin with. But first....

What is a Contract?

Before understanding why poorly written contracts exist, it is important to understand what a contract is and why they are important. A contract is a legally binding agreement between parties in which the parties make an exchange. The purpose of having a contract is to ensure the parties have a legal remedy should one party breach the contract. Otherwise, the contract is not worth the paper it is written on. When a contract has terms that are not enforceable, the parties can run into serious problems getting their rights and maybe even getting into lawsuits. So what are the most common contract mistakes? Here are the top 4 contract myths I have seen in my practice.

1. Having Too Much 'Template' Language
   
   Template terms, also known as 'boilerplate language' are great tools to get some guidance because there is no need to reinvent the wheel when drafting similar

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Contracts are an essential part of both our professional and personal lives. As civil contract lawyers, we deal with contracts almost daily, often without even realizing it. Whether a company wants to come and provide a service to our home or we are in the process of closing a business deal, we review, negotiate, and sign contracts almost daily. Unfortunately, there are many myths surrounding contracts, what they are, and what their requirements are. Believing these myths means that you may enter into a contract that is not enforceable in court or leaving your rights on the table. But first...

What is a Contract?

Before getting to contract myth-busting, it is important to understand what a contract is and why they are important. A contract is a legally binding agreement between parties in which the parties make an exchange. The purpose of having a contract is to ensure the parties have a legal remedy should one party breach the contract. Otherwise, the contract is not worth the paper it is written on. When a contract has terms that are not enforceable, the parties can run into serious problems getting their rights. So what are the most common contract myths? Here are the top 3 contract myths I have seen in my practice.

Contract Myth Number 1: The Myth of the 'Standard Term' or 'Standard Contract'

I've talked about this before and this is still absolutely one of the worst myths that I have seen even other ...