What do law firm lawyers, in-house counsels, independent business lawyers, business leaders spend most of their time on? Very frequently, they are either drafting, reviewing or negotiating a contract.

In-house lawyers say that they spend anywhere between 40-70% of their time drafting contracts. In law firms too, contract drafting is often the majority of your work unless you are in the disputes team or too junior to work on contracts (then you spend time doing due diligence till you can be trusted to draft contracts).

Litigating lawyers do not necessarily draft a lot of contracts. But even if you are going into litigation in the early years when cases are hard to come by and stipend paid by senior advocates from whom you are learning some work is low, contract drafting can give you some respite.

After all, even an independent lawyer can charge at least INR 10,000 for even a basic contract. For a complicated contract like Franchisee Agreement, Shareholders Agreement or Technology Transfer Agreement, an independent junior lawyer can also charge INR 30000-50000. For specialized contracts like an Advanced Pricing Agreement under transfer pricing laws, the charges can easily cross INR 50,000. Law firms, of course, charge in lakhs for such agreements - be it an investment agreement or a loan agreement.

Contract drafting is very profitable. You can do this by sitting at one place and need not go to the court or the client site. Many lawyers do contract drafting remotely for other busier lawyers and earn handsomely.

However, how do you learn contract drafting? It is definitely not taught in law schools. Contract law is one of the basic subjects taught to every lawyer in college, but they still do not know how to draft commercial agreements.

Most lawyers have to learn it slowly on the job, from seniors who may or may not have time or skills to teach you. It is a big reason why young lawyers struggle a lot in initial years.

This is why we have created the most comprehensive 1-year course on contract drafting. After pursuing this course, you can review, draft or negotiate any kind of contract with remarkable ease.

If you are a lawyer or law student, you will be able to capture commercial deals very accurately in customized contracts that are watertight and comprehensively address your client’s intention.

How do you achieve all this in 1 year? 

We begin by segmenting different types of contracts and bringing similar-looking agreements under the same head. Basically, we have divided the 100+ agreements into 8 major segments in terms of industry. Each segment will be covered over a period of 1.5 months. For example, IP and media related agreements will be clubbed together so that you will get an experience of learning and understanding 10-12 different kinds of media agreements. By the end of the segment, you will have a decent understanding of how these agreements are structured. After one segment, we move over to another segment, such as IT agreements or real estate agreements, where we follow the same process. By the end of it, you will be comfortable with all kinds of contract-drafting work, whether it pertains to general commercial agreements, corporate contracts, technology contracts, IP contracts, etc.

The pedagogy has been structured so that the briefing session will involve making you understand what a client’s expectations really are and where they are often not met. What you can do that will delight a client is discussed. Then, we progress to a discussion of the anatomy of a contract and a detailed discussion on the construction and drafting of each clause in a contract. The relevance and variation of each clause are discussed. One important thing to note here is that we provide adequate reading material and video content before every session, and we expect you to go through them before attending the live class. This not only familiarizes you with the topics to be discussed but also raises many questions in your mind, which can be clarified in the briefing sessions. 

Next, we discuss the legal formalities of registration, stamping and attestation to make contracts.

Contract drafting needs to be coupled with dispute resolution and enforcement aspects of contract-related disputes. That will enable you to draft superior contracts and also litigate or arbitrate more effectively.

We realized contract drafting is like karate or learning to play a musical instrument - the more you practice, the better you get. To make sure you’ve really got it, we have created more than 100 micro-exercises, which enable you to form necessary brain and memory patterns to apply the knowledge in real-life solutions. You will know what to do in a situation because you have already dealt with it before. You will be required to draft full-length agreements based on your briefing sessions and the reading material over a period of one week. Once you have submitted the assignment, a very detailed feedback session will be taken where one of the submissions will be thoroughly analysed and discussed. You will understand how the clauses were supposed to be drafted and the hits and misses that were made. 

We also conduct weekly mentoring sessions for those who have absolutely no prior experience with contract drafting. The exercises are designed to make you feel uncomfortable as you learn to grapple with problems of practical relevance. It is extremely important to read the given reading material carefully and watch the content videos before attending the live sessions and the assignment for obtaining the full value out of this course. 
You will build your muscle by working on smaller problems and then begin to work on more complex and challenging situations. 
By the end of this course, when you walk into a real-life situation, you will be pleasantly surprised to realize how much of it you have already tackled before through the practice exercises.

Businessmen, project management and contract management professionals and other working professionals who regularly need to deal with contracts will also find this course extremely beneficial.

Yes. 

We have two kinds of students. Some already have good legal skills.

Others are learning legal skills from us but not good enough to use those skills professionally yet (may take anywhere between 3-12 months to get there depending on their pace).
 
We have two different teams to help these two kinds of people.
 
Those who have legal skills such as contract drafting, data & privacy, international business law, US immigration law, litigation support, international IP law work etc do such work.

But we do not want you to wait till you learn such skills (which can take a good amount of time) before you start earning.

Your learning goes to the next level when you see that you are earning from your learning and by learning more you can double or triple your income.

There are few incentives like dopamine hit in your brain that comes from earning.

Nothing feels better than hard cash RoI that you get from investing in yourself. That is a great motivator for doing the hard work that you have to do for setting up your career for success.

This is a great differentiator between how things are taught in school and college and how we teach in LawSikho.

For those who don't have professional level legal skills yet, we help them to get other kinds of work such as writing articles, research, legal transcription, article writing, data entry, law firm admin, social media management, etc. 

Some people even do work like voice over, data compilation, translation, virtual assistant etc. When they start earning and see for themselves that they can earn if they work, they start focusing on their course much better.

Our team keeps sharing suitable opportunities with them as we are always monitoring platforms like Upwork, People Per Hour & others.

We have also set up a dedicated team that is always pitching to organizations in the US to help LawSikho students find remote work. We set up an entity in the US as well to bridge the trust gap an US lawyer, startup or law firm may have with an organization operating from India.

We focus on getting learners their first 3 clients. We help them to craft amazing proposals for potential clients based on our experience. If they are selected for an interview by a client, we guide them on that too.

By the time they get the first 3 clients, learners become well adjusted to the process & can get their own clients independently. By this time their CV and profile also has some real work and testimonials so they find many opportunities from that point. 

Getting started is the hardest. And LawSikho makes that process frictionless.

I have seen law students beginning to earn well over USD 1000 per month. A former colleague who is doing this as a side gig earned USD 500 in her 1st month. I have students who have been doing this for a year & have begun to earn USD 10k per month! Of course, some people are stuck at USD 300. But they will make progress too, as they will learn new skills, improve their profiles & start pitching for well paid work. We are on it.

Total number of opportunities that were created: 2000+

Total learners who got freelance opportunities between April 2021 & October 2021: 441+

Number of opportunities: 1100+

Total amount of work secured : $45,888/ INR 34,00,000 (approx)

Number of people who got jobs: 138

Number of people who got internships: 1764

Highest earning: INR 16 Lakhs p.a. (USD 21,592)

Lowest earning: INR 2.40 Lakhs p.a. (USD 3,239)

Please note that this number represents the first few gigs supplied by us or those on which we actively worked with the learners. Beyond these, they have got work which we don't track.

General and Commercial Contracts 

• Consultancy agreement
• Employment contract
• Event management agreement
• Non-disclosure agreement
• Exclusive agreement
• Memorandum of understanding
• Agency agreement
• Advisors agreement
• Will 
• Trust deed
• Non Circumvention and Fee Protection Agreement
• Purchase agreement  
• Letter of intent
• Commission agreement
• Staffing agreement
• Management service agreement
• Operations and maintenance agreement
• Franchise agreement
• Distribution agreement
• Power of attorney
• Event merchandising agreement
• Sponsorship agreement
• Affiliate Program Services Agreement
• Business Collaboration Agreement 
• Management Service Agreement 
• Hire Purchase Agreement

Corporate Contracts

• Term Sheet
• The Limited Liability Partnership agreement
• Partnership agreement
• Co-founders agreement 
• Memorandum of association
• Articles of Association 
• Share purchase agreement
• Share subscription agreement 
• Shareholders’ agreement 
• Asset purchase agreement
• Business transfer agreement
• Joint Venture Agreement 
• Advisory Agreement

Intellectual Property and Media-Related Agreements

• Book publishing agreement and ebook publishing agreement
• Work for hire agreement 
• Inventions agreement
• Music license agreement 
• Content license agreement 
• IP assignment agreement 
• Artists agreement 
• Celebrity endorsement agreement
• Audio Visual Streaming Agreement
• Research and Development Agreement 
• Trademark Assignment Agreement
• Trademark License Agreement 
• Character Merchandising Agreement 
• Original Digital Content Development Agreement
• Commission Agreement
• Co-production Agreement 
• Music Distribution Agreement 
• Music Adaptation Agreement 
• Music Synchronisation Agreement

Other Internet and Technology Contracts

• Software development agreement 
• Software license agreement 
• Software escrow agreement
• Software maintenance agreement 
• Web development agreement
• API integration agreement
• Technology transfer agreement 
• SaaS agreement 
• Database and Maintenance Contract
• Service level agreement
• Master service agreement 
• End User License Agreement

E-Commerce Contracts

• Terms of use/Terms of service of E-commerce website
• Privacy policy 
• Cookie Policy for a website 
• Subscription service agreement 
• Cancellation, returns and refund policy 
• E-commerce website development and services agreement
• Terms and conditions of sale 
• Internet Banking Services Agreement
• Domain Name Sssignment Agreement 

Real Estate related Agreements 

• Corporate lease agreement 
• Leave and license agreement
• Joint development agreement
• Sale deed 
• Agreement to sell 
• Venue Hire Agreement
• Power Purchase Agreement

Government Contracts  

• EPC Contract 
• Public-private partnership agreement
• Concession agreement 
• Joint venture agreement 

Lending and finance related documents

• Loan Agreement
• Loan settlement agreement
• Syndicate loan agreement
• Comfort Letter 
• Deed of mortgage
• Share pledge agreement
• Non-disclosure undertaking
• Corporate Guarantee
• Promoters Guarantee Agreement 
• Notice under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act
• The application under Section 7 and 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
• Intercreditor Agreement

Post Contractual Contracts/Matters

• Variation/Amendment Agreements
• Deed of Novation
• Termination Agreement
• Side Letters
• Interim Agreement 
• Change Order 
• Releases/Contract Cancellation
• Gift Deed
• Post incorporation Contract Adoption
• Declaration of Nomineeship /Trust
• Notice of commencement of arbitration
• Statement of claim 
• Statement of defence
• Identify Applicable Stamp Acts and Calculate Stamp Duty on Different Instruments
• Legal Notice

• Knowledge of contract drafting, negotiation and dispute resolution cuts across almost all areas of legal work. If you are a master of contract drafting, you are definitely going to do very well in your legal career, no matter what is your chosen area of practice.
• Whether you want to work at law firms, in-house legal departments in companies or litigate in court, learning contract drafting is extremely beneficial.
• There is a great opportunity to build independent practice through contract drafting. As clients trust you, they come back to you when they have disputes. Contract drafting has a low barrier to entry as clients trust younger and junior lawyers with drafting as opposed to disputes.
• There is a tremendous opportunity with respect to contract drafting not only in big metros but also tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
• There are LPOs, technology platforms such as VakilSearch, LawRato and IndiaFilings that hire hundreds of lawyers to draft agreements.
• As more Indian businesses are becoming formal from the informal sector, the demand for contract drafting, negotiation and dispute resolution is also steadily on the rise.
• As more foreign businesses are entering India, there is a significant opportunity to cater to these businesses too.
• Contracts are becoming more enforceable thanks to better access to arbitration and especially easier money recover proceedings through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. This has significantly increased the importance of well-drafted contracts.
• The government and PSUs also frequently enter into complex contracts, which require great expertise. Both governments and suppliers to the government frequently hire lawyers for this purpose.
• You cannot learn these things by studying any particular laws, regulations or rules, and there are no adequate books that can help you here. Success in IP, media and entertainment law practice requires skills that are more varied than merely knowing the provisions of various statutes.

Check out the learning objectives to understand what you will exactly need to learn.

• The course is not limited to a provision-by-provision study of some statutes and associated case laws alone. In fact, we have provided above a list of about 100 contracts we will teach you to draft, review and negotiate.
• The course trains you on different kinds of actual work that is required to be performed by lawyers and other professionals. After finishing the course, you will know as much practical knowledge as a lawyer working at a big law firm will know after a year or two of experience.
• It is not a mere theoretical study but hands-on practical lessons where you will have to draft and review a lot of agreements.
• The course is tough and intensive; you will not be awarded the certificate unless you complete all the exercises. You have to spend 8-10 hours per week on this course.
• You will get personal attention and coaching from the trainer and get individual feedback on the quality of work you produce
• You will be writing an article every month and, with our guidance, publish the same either on iPleaders blog or various other industry publications.
• We will provide you with a free course on professional networking, CV writing and interview skills so that you can easily find jobs.
• Those who perform well in class will be recommended to top law firms for internships and jobs. If you do not need such help, let us know how we can help you.
• After completing the course, you will be able to perform various tasks that fall in the domain of contract drafting and business law and be at ease with different aspects of dispute resolutions arising out of these contracts, whether you work in a law firm, the in-house legal team of a company or as an independent lawyer building a practice.
• We also recommend this course to other professionals, business negotiators, entrepreneurs who regularly enter into contracts as they can immensely benefit from this knowledge.

• Gain exposure to strategic drafting and negotiation of high-value commercial contracts
• Get hands-on experience in drafting 100 types of most common commercial contracts
• Understand the technical and commercial aspects involved in advanced contract-specific negotiations
• Learn the art of drafting clauses to avoid ambiguous clauses and uncertain interpretations
• Review contracts with the objective of minimizing future disputes
• Develop the skills for negotiation of government contracts
• Learn the tricks of the trade for paying stamp duty, registration and execution of contracts
• Learn how to create or assess a negotiation strategy
• How can you prepare before walking into a high-value contract negotiation
• Learn how to quickly grasp the most important business aspects that dictate terms of any given contract
• Learn to perform a risk analysis of any contract
• Get trained in understanding your client’s expectations, commercial objectives and ensuring your draft reflects the concerns of your clients.
• Learn how to avoid mistakes that even seasoned lawyers end up making in the process of contract drafting and negotiation
• Learn skills for representing big corporations in contract negotiation and how it is different from working with smaller businesses and individuals
• Get access to hundreds of templates drafted by experts that you can learn from and actually use while doing client work.
• Learn how to enforce contracts in case a term is violated and how to decide if filing a breach of contract suit is worth it
• Learn to calculate damages for contractual breach
• Learn how to create a standard format of contracts and use them successfully in any organization
• How AI software is changing contract drafting and what you need to learn

• Learn how to draft contracts effectively by understanding the operative clauses, boilerplate clauses and drafting clauses to mitigate the risk that ensures maximum enforceability
• Identify commercial intent of the contracts across multiple industries like manufacturing, services, M&A, banking and finance, media and intellectual property, technology, public procurement etc.
• Understand the basic elements and the structure of typical contracts
• Learn how to appreciate your client’s needs and expectations and get specific instructions in writing that clients do not go back on
• Develop the skills for the usage of words in your contract that give it a better clarity and precision and structurize the tone of the contract depending on your client’s needs
• Understand the expectations of law firms and companies from lawyers with respect to drafting and review of contracts
• Understand how you as a lawyer can add maximum value to a contract and provide clients what they need on a case by case basis
• Get introduced to common drafting errors and implement the tips on avoiding them that shall be taught throughout the course
• Get skilled in identifying and articulating major loopholes when you read a client’s existing contract or a previous draft for the first time
• Understand the formatting techniques necessary for efficacious and powerful drafting
• Learn to use a checklist while drafting contracts that would ensure you never miss a clause
• Learn about signing (execution), stamping, registration of contracts, attestation, notarization and apostillation of contracts and how it impacts their legal validity and enforceability
• Learn about the validity of old stamp papers and stamp papers from other states
• Learn about counterparts and their validity
• Understand how and when to create conditions precedent and conditions subsequent in a contract and allocate responsibility for their fulfilment
• Learn about the ‘closing’ of a contract and how to draft a closing/completion clause
• Learn how to specify obligations and allocate risks to the parties to avoid confusion later
• Learn how to make payment clauses watertight
• Identify when and how to create annexures for the contracts you draft
• Learn to skillfully draft various clauses like the term, termination and renewal clause
• Learn how to insert and customize boilerplate clauses
• Get a conceptual understanding of security documentation relating to the mortgage deed, hypothecation agreement and pledge agreement in negotiations relevant to the banking and finance sectors
• Learn how to draft an indemnity clause in a contract
• Get skilled in making amendments and variations in contracts
• Learn how to deal with situations where there may be an unenforceable part in a contract and draft the contractual provision of a severability clause to counter it
• Learn how to draft shareholders’ agreements
• Learn how to draft loan agreements
• Learn how to safeguard the intellectual property of the parties to a contract
• Identify ways to mitigate your liability in case of Force Majeure, and clearly specify who will be responsible to which extent in cases when no one can be held responsible
• Learn how to keep information of the parties to the contract confidential and draft an effective confidentiality clause for that purpose
• Understand how to insert an effective non-compete clause and its variations
• How to specify territory and governing law on the parties to the contract to prevent future inconvenience and disputes between the parties
• Learn how to draft a breach of terms clause and how to effectively identify a breach
• Understand how to clearly mention consequences in the event of a breach
• Understand when a party can rescind from a contract and when he gets discharged
• Learn how to claim specific enforcement of contracts
• How to obtain permanent, temporary and mandatory injunctions
• Gain expertise for the defences available in case of breach of a contract
• Get guidance from the experts to expand the deal to create win-win strategies
• Learn how to negotiate with an institution and multiple stakeholders
• Learn how to draft an effective dispute resolution and arbitration clause
• Learn how to resolve disputes through arbitration - how to initiate arbitration proceedings, how to appoint arbitrators, how to challenge their appointment, and how to challenge the validity of an arbitration agreement
• Learn about the powers and limitations of arbitral tribunals, and stages where court intervention can be sought
• Learn how to effectively draft a notice of commencement of arbitration, statement of claims and defence
• Learn how to get interim relief in an arbitration
• Learn about the pros and cons of institutional arbitration and how to select an arbitration institution for your client
• Learn how to get arbitration awards enforced and challenge the arbitration awards
• Learn how to deal with infringements of the rights of the third-parties who are not a party to the contract

• Draft a consultancy agreement
• Draft an employment contract
• Draft an event management agreement
• Draft a non-disclosure agreement
• Draft an exclusive agreement
• Draft a memorandum of understanding
• Draft an agency agreement
• Draft an advisors agreement
• Draft a Will 
• Draft a trust deed
• Draft a Non-Circumvention and Fee Protection Agreement
• Draft a purchase agreement  
• Draft a letter of intent
• Draft a commission agreement
• Draft a staffing agreement
• Draft a management service agreement
• Draft an operations and maintenance agreement
• Draft a franchise agreement
• Draft a distribution agreement
• Draft power of attorney
• Draft an event merchandising agreement
• Draft a sponsorship agreement
• Draft an Affiliate Program Services Agreement
• Draft a Limited Liability Partnership agreement
• Draft a Partnership agreement
• Draft a Co-founders agreement 
• Draft a memorandum of association
• Draft Articles of Association 
• Draft a share purchase agreement
• Draft a share subscription agreement 
• Draft a shareholders’ agreement 
• Draft an asset purchase agreement
• Draft a business transfer agreement
• Draft a book publishing agreement and ebook publishing agreement
• Draft work for hire agreement 
• Draft an inventions agreement
• Draft a music license agreement 
• Draft a content license agreement 
• Draft an IP assignment agreement 
• Draft an artists agreement 
• Draft a celebrity endorsement agreement
• Draft a satellite exploitation 
• Draft a digital exploitation agreement
• Draft a trademark assignment agreement 
• Draft a trademark license agreement 
• Draft a character merchandising agreement 
• Draft an original content development agreement 
• Draft a commission agreement 
• Draft a co-production agreement 
• Draft a music distribution agreement 
• Draft a music adaptation agreement 
• Draft a music synchronisation agreement
• Draft a software development agreement 
• Draft a software license agreement 
• Draft a software escrow agreement
• Draft a software maintenance agreement 
• Draft a web development agreement
• Draft an API integration agreement
• Draft a technology transfer agreement 
• Draft SaAS agreement 
• Draft a Database and Maintenance Contract
• Draft a service level agreement
• Draft a master service agreement 
• Draft a Terms of use/Terms of service of E-commerce website
• Draft a privacy policy 
• Draft a cookie policy for a website 
• Draft a subscription service agreement 
• Draft a cancellation, returns and refund policy 
• Draft an e-commerce website development and services agreement
• Draft the terms and conditions of sale 
• Draft an Internet Banking Services Agreement
• Draft a Domain name assignment Agreement 
• Draft a corporate lease agreement 
• Draft a leave and license agreement
• Draft a joint development agreement
• Draft a sale deed 
• Draft an agreement to sell 
• Draft a Venue Hire Agreement
• Draft an EPC Contract 
• Draft a public-private partnership agreement
• Draft a concession agreement 
• Draft a joint venture agreement
• Draft a Loan Agreement 
• Draft a loan settlement agreement
• Draft a syndicated loan agreement
• Draft a deed of mortgage
• Draft a share pledge agreement
• Draft Non-disclosure undertaking
• Draft a Corporate Guarantee
• Draft a Promoters Guarantee Agreement 
• Draft notice under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act
• Draft an application under Section 7 and 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
• Draft a Release Deed
• Draft a Termination Agreement
• Draft a Deed of Novation
• Draft a Deed Of Gift
• Draft a Declaration of Nomineeship /Trust
• Draft an Interim Agreement
• Draft a Side Letter
• Draft a letter of comfort
• Draft a change order 
• Draft a Post incorporation Contract Adoption
• Draft a Notice of commencement of arbitration
• Draft a statement of claim and statement of defence
• Draft a petition for enforcement of an arbitral award
• Draft a petition for setting aside an arbitral award
• Identify Applicable Stamp Acts and Calculate Stamp Duty on Different Instruments
• Exercise for Review of Career Objectives, Learnings and Your Course