Contract Drafting Assignment (Posted by Gabe)

Hello Friends!

I hope that your studies are coming along well. I apologize that I have not updated this blog lately; having just finished up my JD studies, I'm hoping to change that. Please feel free to e-mail any questions that you may have!

In the meantime, a classmate asked the following question about the contracts drafting assignment:

My question involves the drafting assignment for this week's lesson. The assignment itself I understand, however, there are not enough details given to create a whole contract. So my question is, am I supposed to make up the necessary details that have not been given (such as addresses, state in which the transaction takes place, specific details about the vehicle in question - such as year, miles,etc. for description of consideration, whether or not there are any warranties involved, etc.)? Or do I just write a contract that leaves all those details out?

Great question, and the most "correct" answer is that either way should work just fine. The Professor knows that you don't have those details, and isn't expecting you to "know" them, so if you draft the contract with those details left out you should be fine.

I would recommend, though, that you take the time to make the contract look the best it can, which may involve pretending to have certain facts. I'd recommend that you go ahead and add "facts" that would add to the reality of the assignment without changing the facts. If you add your state of residence as the place where the transaction occurs, and put in fictitious addresses, I think that would add to the reality of the assignment.

But don't add facts that would change the terms of the contract itself. For instance, adding warranties that aren't in your facts could change the terms of the contract--don't do that.

As a final blog note, send me your website URL if you would like to be listed in the OBCL paralegal blogroll on the right.

More to come soon. Fire your questions away if we can help with finals prep!