A perspective on contract terms

After teaching contracts for several years, I’m fairly convinced that the following axiom applies whenever anyone enters into a contract:

Any agreed upon and legally binding contract terms will either work in your favor, or against you.

Contrary to popular belief, contract terms are never neutral. Instead, they will either further your goals and interests, or they will not. In ideal situations, the contract terms benefit everyone. In the worst situations, they detriment you and benefit the person or entity sitting across the negotiating table. In the vast majority of cases, some clauses further your interests and others do not, yet the bargain as a whole is worth entering into for both parties.

Each particular word, or clause, however, will have a variable impact on the outcome or value of the bargain. That value, however, as deduced from the contract axiom will always either be positive or negative. The sign (positive or negative) and the size of the quantified outcome will largely depend on things like: information, bargaining power, experience, legal knowledge and negotiating prowess.

Starting this term, I’ll start using the contract axiom whenever I introduce the subject of contracts to business students.