Practice Area
Business Contract Drafting and Review
Stephen Nault drafts, reviews, and revises business agreements with attention to leverage, risk allocation, performance standards, dispute clauses, and what the parties will actually do after signing.
A useful contract should shorten disputes, not silently manufacture them.
Who this is for
- Business owners entering material vendor, services, sales, or strategic partner agreements.
- Real estate operators who need contracts aligned with asset, brokerage, or project realities.
- Contractors and managers who want cleaner obligations, payment terms, and dispute positioning.
Common problems
- Template agreements that do not match the transaction or leave material risk unassigned.
- Poorly defined scope, change-order, payment, indemnity, or termination language.
- Forum, arbitration, and attorney-fee clauses that create bad dispute posture later.
- Inconsistent definitions and exhibit references that cause operational confusion after execution.
- Urgent deals where the client needs a fast but commercially grounded review.
How I approach it
The contract review process asks what the client is trying to protect, what would actually go wrong if performance slips, and how a judge, arbitrator, or business counterparty would read the paper later. That keeps the drafting commercially useful.
Common mistakes
- Using a borrowed template from a different deal type or state.
- Overfocusing on price and underweighting indemnity, default, and termination mechanics.
- Assuming litigation language is boilerplate when it controls leverage later.
- Signing under time pressure without aligning the document to the business objective.
If this describes your situation
The intake form takes about three minutes. You'll hear back within one business day if the matter is a fit.
Common questions
Can you do fast-turn contract review for a live deal?
Yes, where timing permits. The review still focuses on the points that most affect operational and dispute risk rather than redlining for the sake of volume.
Do you work on agreements connected to real estate operations?
Yes. Many matters involve leases, brokerage relationships, management agreements, contractor work, and owner-side business arrangements.
Do you only help when there is already a disagreement?
No. Preventive drafting is a core part of the practice because good documents often reduce downstream conflict and wasted time.
Focused practice pages
Short, intent-matched intake pages on specific issues within this area:
Related Reading
Articles on this topic.
Owner Disputes
Deadlock in a Closely Held Business: Decision Points Before Escalation
In Tennessee LLC disputes, real deadlock usually shows up before open collapse through stalled approvals, bank and records control fights, conflicting authority, and pressure on day-to-day operations.
Owner Disputes
When the Operating Agreement No Longer Matches Reality
Many Tennessee LLC disputes begin when the operating agreement says one thing but the business has drifted into something else. That mismatch often becomes a control, proof, and records problem before anyone files anything formal.
Owner Disputes
Books, Records, and Account Access: Early Control Red Flags
In Tennessee LLC disputes, books-and-records problems are often treated as bookkeeping issues when they are really early control issues about status, authority, and who gets to define the company record.
If any of this sounds like your situation
The intake is structured and short — name, contact, opposing party, brief description. You'll hear back within one business day.