zlacker

[return to "GitLaw: GitHub For Laws And Legal Documents - A Tourniquet For American Liberty"]
1. nickpi+Ab[view] [source] 2012-05-13 22:51:14
>>waffle+(OP)
IANAL, but...

Why don't we instead build a "Startup Law Standard" kind of thing that can get network effects in the startup scene. Get all the big firms law firm / VCs / angels / etc. signed on to these standards.

How would this look? I've read a lot of contracts, and you see some similar stuff. In many ways, it's kind of like programming:

VARIABLE DEFINITIONS: at the top - like: "'Company' shall be XYZ, Inc., a Delaware Corporation located in 100 Main St.", and so on.

TESTS: These are normally "Warranties and Representations" - these are often quite boiler-plate like: "Assignor is owner of all Intellectual Property", etc.

AUTHENTICATION: Signatures, etc.

I bet that 80-90% documents could be generated by a set of 500 boiler-plate sections with fill-in-the-blank type of stuff. There could be built into these something that'd figure out the incompatibility (i.e. "exclusive" in one section wouldn't work with "non-exclusive" in another).

Term Sheets are pretty standardized now with a couple made forms that are considered modern. Why can't we do the rest?

Call me crazy, but couldn't this at the very least reduce law costs, and at best be the first step down a road of nearly full-auto law?

Then again - IANAL...

◧◩
2. rprasa+uq[view] [source] 2012-05-14 05:11:00
>>nickpi+Ab
I hate to break it to you, but most of the legal documents you pay for are already standardized. They have been for years (or decades, depending on the area of law). You're paying for the customizations that are specific to your situation.

Obviously, standardized language has done nothing to reduce costs. The problem is supply-side: despite the glut of (new) lawyers, there are still not enough lawyers that people are willing to trust with their business.

[go to top]