FIFTYTIPSFORWRITINGTHE21STCENTURYCONTRACTTHATSTAYSOUTOFCOURT.docVIP

FIFTY TIPS FOR WRITING THE 21ST CENTURY CONTRACT THAT STAYS OUT OF COURT 二十一世纪写好合同的五十招 作者：James.Martin 译者：胡清平 Published in The Florida Bar Journal, Nov. 2000 （本文于2000年11月发表于美国佛罗里达州的律师杂志上） Note: This article is for background purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. 作者注：本文仅供参考，并不旨在提供法律意见 译者注：翻译本文并未得到原作者同意，故译文仅供学习和研究使用. Welcome to the 21st Century. Where practicing law requires us to don the garb of computers and the Internet. And where litigation is as costly as ever. Lawyer bills running $10,000 a month are not unusual in a hotly contested breach of contract lawsuit. With every word, phrase and sentence carrying the potential for winning or losing, the stakes are high. Simple logic, therefore, directs us to cautious and thoughtful drafting. 新世纪的到来，要求我们在法律实践中应该多用电脑和互联网，不过，诉讼成本还是那么地高，面对日益竞争激烈的违约诉讼，律师每月开出1万美元的账单也是常有的事。合同中的每一个字，每一个词，每一句话，都意味着潜在的输或赢，换句话说，押在这上面下的赌注也很大，所以，在起草合同时要把握两条原则：小心谨慎和深思熟虑。 Drafting contracts is actually one of the simple pleasures of practicing law. Just 3 years ago at this Convention I presented 50 tips for contract writing. This article ｕｐｄａｔｅs those tips in the context of our new tools and abilities. Following these tips could result in your writing a contract so clear no one will want to litigate it, saving your client from the trials and tribulations of litigation, truly a good reason to write the contract that stays out of court. 然而，起草合同的确又是法律实践中一件有意思的事儿。大约三年前，也是在这样一个会议上，我提出了合同起草的50招。本文在那些招数的基础上，结合一些新的工具和技能，推出了下面这个新版本,但愿它们能帮助你起草无可挑剔的合同，让你的客户免受诉讼的困扰。 These tips apply to writing all kinds of agreements: office leases, real estate contracts, sales agreements, employment contracts, equipment leases, prenuptial agreements. They even apply to stipulations and settlements in litigation, where you want an agreement so clear that it avoids future litigation. Wherever clarity and simplicity are important, these tips will guide you there. The Appendix provides a few sample forms to illustrate these tips. 这些招数适用于各种合同，比如，办公租赁合同、不动产合同、买卖合同、劳动合同、设备