- Why do I need to attend a bootcamp on contract drafting? I already learned it in law school
- I can read textbooks on contract drafting
- I can look up contract drafting templates online and use them
Are you thinking these thoughts? Having gone through my earlier emails on this topic, are you still wondering why you should come to our free upcoming bootcamp on ‘International Opportunities in Contract Drafting’?
In which case, let me present you with a few scenarios.
Say a U.S. entrepreneur approaches you to draft an investment contract to receive investment into the company. Or a Canadian entrepreneur approaches you to draft the terms of service and privacy policy of their website.
Or an Indian freelancer approaches you to review a commission agreement or a digital media promotion agreement. Or an artist in the UAE asks you to review a licence agreement.
Where will you start? Which questions will you ask? Which clauses will you draft? Which book will help you?
Has anyone taught you the practical application of contract drafting laws? That too for an international job market?
All this and more is what we will talk about at our bootcamp. And if you are still wondering, here are some of the top reasons why you should attend it:
Upgrade your skills to international standards
The post-pandemic world has shown us how effective remote freelance work can be, both in terms of costs and productivity. As a result, more and more international clients are now looking to recruit freelance talents from cost-effective markets like India, where the same skills can be found at far lower rates than international markets.
Here are some of our own learners who have acquired an international client base.
Asavari Ojha (LawSikho, July 2021), is a 2020 graduate of Amity University. She began working on her first project in August 2021 and has earned more than USD 10,000 on the online job platform Upwork from just five jobs.
Yashika Malhotra (LawSikho, April 2021), a 2017 graduate of Himachal Pradesh University, has earned around USD 20,000 since she started freelancing after joining our course, and worked with clients from US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Australia and other countries. On the job platform Upwork, her earnings have crossed USD 1,200 from just 43 hours of work.
She worked with a Florida-based law firm as a paralegal where she earned USD 1,500 per month, at USD 9 per hour for 40 hours per week, and now assists a US lawyer on UK capital markets and M&A work.
She is also preparing for the NCA Exam in order to build a law practice under Canadian jurisdiction.
Which means Indian professionals must upskill themselves to meet international requirements, including mastering the language needed to perform the task. And wherever needed, they must know the laws of the land too.
How do you think you can learn this? Say you already know the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, and have read Indian and UK case laws. Does that give you the skill to draft a simple non-disclosure agreement (NDA), or a licence agreement, or a lease, or an employment agreement for an international client?
All of this and more is on offer at the bootcamp. When we say upgrade, we really mean it.
Learn how to find clients on job platforms
We have come across plenty of freelance professionals who have signed up on job platforms, but are clueless about how to actually find and keep clients.
They mostly end up either pitching their skills to the wrong client, or are taken advantage of by unscrupulous clients who get the job done without paying for it. Then there are those who accept low-value assignments for fear that they won’t find anything better.
We can teach you how to maximise your potential on job platforms, how to recognise the right clients, how to make sure you write the correct profile description that will draw genuine clients, and how to position and pitch yourself so that you stand out in a crowd.
We have spent many years helping people find remote work online, and many of our learners, as you already know, have been doing excellent work on several job platforms.
Learn how to prepare high-value contracts
People sometimes tell me they can learn contract drafting simply by looking at templates online.
Tell me, if that were the case, would law firms be charging lakhs of rupees for a single contract? Would clients even have felt the need to approach lawyers for a contract? They would just use an online template!
Particularly when it comes to high-value contracts, effective contract drafting is a critical skill, because such contracts often tend to be highly technical – such as a shareholders agreement, a banking and finance contract, a joint venture agreement, an integration agreement or a construction contract.
If you are drafting such a contract, you must understand the technicalities.
Also, high-value contracts usually involve an innovative business model or a unique deal, which often requires the drafter to customise clauses, introduce new clauses, combine features of different types of contracts, and foresee new kinds of risks.
In the international arena, such contracts also involve a knowledge of circumstances peculiar to a certain territory. For example, a force majeure clause in contracts with a Russian entity usually has “epidemics and quarantine”, “radioactive contamination”, and “uprisings and revolutions” included. For those who know their history, these interjections are easily understood.
So there is a lot to learn when drafting high-value contracts. And you will hear all about it at the bootcamp.
Learn how to perform risk analysis
Why does a contract need risk analysis? Simple, to reduce the potential risk or threat which parties to the contract might have to face, and to help the parties to thoroughly handle the risk so that it is eliminated.
How can you assess, handle, and eliminate the risk? How will you even recognise a risk?
For example, any single word which creates confusion or vagueness in a particular section, clause or part of a contract must be avoided. Absence of transparency leads to errors, which leads to risks.
But spotting that one word is a matter of countless reviews before a contract is finally executed.
Are you aware of all these processes? Can you analyse and prevent all risks arising from a contract? Come to the bootcamp, and we will show you how.
Access to contract templates
Once you attend the bootcamp, you will have access to numerous customised contract templates that are not available online or with anyone else.
We know templates are only the beginning of the contract drafting story, but these are templates with a difference. You will only know once you see them for yourself.
All these benefits can be yours at our FREE, LIVE, online bootcamp on ‘International opportunities in contract drafting’ from May 6-8, 2023, 7.00-10.00 pm IST daily.
Join us, and learn practice-based skills and tips that you can use to draft watertight contracts at home and abroad.
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