About the author
Ken Adams is the leading authority on how to say clearly whatever you want to say in a contract. He’s author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, and he offers online and in-person training around the world. He’s also chief content officer of LegalSifter, Inc., a company that combines artificial intelligence and expertise to assist with review of contracts.
I, too, share the skepticism of free templates. I also understand that there will always be some element that wants to do their own legal work; however, I don’t think that makes her video good advice.
There are many resources for people to turn to if they can’t afford “traditional” legal fees. In my practice, I’ve worked with many “bootstrappers” and have accepted trade of services from designers, done some deferred fee work that I’ll probably never get paid for because I believed in the business, and referred some others to clinics at local law schools. I mostly work on a flat-fee basis so business just getting started have some predictability in their legal costs.
I understand her underlying point–that if you are going to be foolish enough to try this at home, here are the major points you need to consider. But I don’t think that is responsible. Responsible advice would be to highlight some of the ways you can find low-cost or even free legal services from someone qualified to provide them.
You’ll get no argument from me. Saying that I can’t work up much outrage is different from saying that I endorse her approach.