Making sense of legal documents
Legal contracts can be long, involved, and very difficult to understand. There are contract lawyers who specialize in helping people understand what they are signing, but for most individuals, hiring an attorney for each contract may not be in the budget, especially when you simply need a more concise overview of the main points in the contract.
Freelancers enter new contracts monthly, sometimes even weekly, or daily, and keeping someone on retainer would quickly bust your budget. LegalSifter is a new app aimed at helping you make sense of your contracts, by simply analyzing the text of any contract you upload.
LegalSifter will scan your contract and then assign a score based on what it finds. It will also highlight any issues that may be missing, suggest what should be added or changed, and alert you as to which party will benefit the most from the contract. This is also helpful if you would like to review a contract before asking a potential client to sign it.
LegalSifter may show you areas that need improvement before you enter into an agreement that may not benefit your company as much as it could. This could help start a conversation between your business and legal team to fine tune a contract that already exists, or analyze a competitor’s contract to see how yours measures up in comparison. The app is primarily used by designers and developers, but it can find discrepancies in freelancing, and most other contracts as well.
For many people, being able to clearly understand a contract will give them the power to make a better decision, and ultimately help them earn more money. LegalSifter is of course, not meant to be a replacement for sound legal advice from a lawyer, but it can absolutely help you understand the terms and clauses of a contract in plain, digestible, English. Keeping a legal pro on hand can save you time, complications, and a great deal of money, but LegalSifter is a great place to start if you are trying to decide which company is offering the best deal, or have an extra tight budget.
