Contract Standards

Contract Standards develops and shares

Unified contract standards

Document checklists and a unified clause library

Form agreements and contract automation tools

Mission

Our mission is to openly share contract standards--transaction analysis, checklists, and clause libraries--in an effort to establish global contract norms. It is hoped readers will share their knowledge through comments, practice guidance and other contributions. Contract Standards is a work in progress with new materials added daily.

The site is developed and maintained by KIIAC LLC, a software company that offers premium technology and services to analyze both public and private document collections, create standard forms and provide contract benchmarking. To learn more, visit www.kiiac.com.

Source and Approach

The material on this web site is drawn from public sources, analyzed by kiiac software, and editorially reviewed. The technology can analyze any set of agreements and automatically determine what clauses the agreement contains, how those clauses are organized, and the range of standard and non-standard language used in each clause. The software generates an outline or checklist of the standard deal terms and all deal-specific variations. It also creates a clause library for each deal term, identifies the core, non-negotiated language and the full range of alternatives. Editorial review is performed to remove personal information and to further simplify contract language.

Organization and Contents

The site is divided into three main sections: (a) contract standards; (b) contract automation; and (c) discussion. The contract standards section includes a list of all major agreement types, a comprehensive framework for organizing bi-lateral agreements, a clause library of common terms, and featuring one clause per day. The contract automation section contains document automation tools and end-user guides. Finally, a discussion section provides an environment for participants to contribute to the development of contract standards and guide the development of the document automation and analysis software.

Recent Updates

Withholding and Taxes

The withholding and taxes clause defines what benefits in the severance agreement are subject to taxation. It also determines who is responsible for paying the taxes on the monetary settlement. All clauses provide that the employer is entitled to withhold taxes; a minority of clauses provide that the employee is obligated to pay taxes (except for employment taxes). The clause defines:

1. The obligations of the Employer.
2. The obligations of the Employee.

Posted Feb 23, 2012 11:37 AM by Kingsley Martin

Showing posts 1 - 1 of 49. View more »

Withholding and Taxes The withholding and taxes clause defines what benefits in the severance agreement are subject to taxation. It also determines who is responsible for paying the taxes on the monetary settlement ...
Posted Feb 23, 2012 11:37 AM by Kingsley Martin
Forms and Checklists Click here for an updated form of Employment Agreement and new form of Independent Contractor Agreement, available in Word and PDF format. The next form will be a Severance Agreement
Posted Feb 20, 2012 10:04 AM by Kingsley Martin
No Mitigation Clause The mitigation clause in a severance agreement defines the parties’ obligation to try to minimize the amount of compensation paid. Typically in these agreements, the Employee has no obligation to ...
Posted Feb 13, 2012 8:14 AM by Kingsley Martin
Effect on Other Plans, Agreement and Benefits Clause The Effect on Other Plans clause in a severance agreement determines how the package affects any other agreements the employee may have with the company. Typically, a severance agreement takes ...
Posted Feb 3, 2012 11:51 AM by Kingsley Martin
Severance Benefits Clause The Severance Benefits Clause defines the remuneration and obligations of each party upon separation of service under a performance agreement. As discussed more generally with respect to Compensation Upon Termination ...
Posted Jan 30, 2012 7:22 AM by Kingsley Martin

Showing posts 1 - 5 of 49. View more »

Collaborators