WC1202 | Whipping up a Contract

I truly believe contracts are not very far from the domain of creative writing. We live in a world of disruptive  innovation. Start-ups are light years ahead in their ideas and the law and precedents are always trying, albeit  slowly, to catch up. These disruptive start-ups have innovative ideas and structures for which they require  unique contracts. This course is a clinical course in contract drafting. This course is designed to introduce  students to the thought process of drafting commercial contracts which meet the expectations of clients who  are trying to do something out of the ordinary. The course would help students appreciate the process of  understanding the ideas offered by the clients and drafting a contract accordingly. During the course, the  students will be encouraged to get into the shoes of corporate lawyers and think through the various hurdles  that a lawyer would face, and the questions a lawyer needs to ask while drafting unique contracts for which  there are no set precedents.

Starting with a brief overview of the structure of commercial contracts and discussion on the various terms of a contract, this course will deep dive into the elements of drafting a commercial contract. Thereafter, we will discuss two unique case studies and the drafting of contracts for these case studies will be discussed in  class.

The course would be a combination of lectures, research and practical exercises of drafting.

The course will be divided into 4 modules, namely,

(i) Introduction to commercial contracts and understanding the elements of a commercial contract;  (ii) Principles of drafting a contract;

(iii) Understanding a client’s requirement and addressing them through contract; and (iv) Drafting exercises.