Contract Lawyers and Contract Drafting Services

Hire a contract lawyer who drafts, reviews and negotiates for you. Custom contracts drafted by qualified contract lawyers, built for your specific deal, not pulled from a template. For businesses and founders worldwide. From $99, delivered in 24 to 48 hours.

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A contract lawyer drafts, reviews and negotiates the agreements your business signs. Our advocates do this for clients in the US, UK, EU, UAE, India and more, at a fixed fee, usually within 24 to 48 hours.

What is contract drafting?

Contract drafting is the process of writing a legally enforceable agreement tailored to a specific deal: the parties, the money, the risks, and the jurisdiction whose law governs it. It differs from using a template, which fills generic blanks, from contract review, which examines a document someone else wrote, and from contract negotiation, where the terms are still being argued over. A properly drafted contract defines each party’s obligations, allocates risk through clauses like liability caps and indemnities, and sets out what happens when things go wrong, in terms a court in the governing jurisdiction will actually enforce. Drafting is the right service when the contract does not exist yet, or when you want to start from your own paper rather than the other side’s.

Written and reviewed by Prakhar Rai, Advocate · Last updated November 2026

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Tell me about your deal, the counterparty, and where you are. I will assess what the contract needs to cover and come back with a precise quote and timeline. No obligation, no automated replies.

Standard contracts drafted in 24 to 48 hours. Complex cross-border work in 3 to 5 days.

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WhatsApp +91 8004800100 · contact@mylegalpal.com



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    The contract you regret is usually the one that looked fine.

    Most contract problems are not obvious at signing. The document that costs you later is rarely the one that was clearly wrong. It is the one that was almost right. A missing liability cap. An undefined term. A jurisdiction picked out of habit. A payment clause that leaves room for delay without any consequence.

    Here is the version I see most. A founder needs a contract, money is tight, and there is a free template online or an AI tool that produces one in seconds. It reads well. It gets signed. Then the deal goes sideways, and the one clause that would have protected them is the clause the template left out. The document did its narrow job. It just was not built for their situation, and they found that out at the worst possible moment.

    A template gives you a document. It does not give you an agreement. The thinking about your specific deal is the part that matters, and a template skips exactly that.
      Lawyer-drafted Template AI-generated
    Built for your specific deal Yes No Partially, unverified
    Jurisdiction-correct Yes Rarely Often wrong
    Professionally accountable Yes No No
    Negotiation support Yes No No
    Cost From $99 Free to $50 Free
    Where it fails — The clause your deal needed but the template lacked Clauses that read well and don’t hold up

    That is what contract drafting services are actually for. Not to produce a file, but to think through your deal before it is expensive to get wrong. My Legal Pal drafts contracts for businesses, startups, founders, and freelancers across the US, UK, UAE, Australia, Argentina, India and APAC. Every contract is drafted by a qualified lawyer with experience in that agreement type. Fixed fees, no billable hours, standard contracts in 24 to 48 hours.

    Three mistakes I see again and again.

    Different clients, same few errors. None of them looked like a problem on the day the contract was signed.

    The template that was almost right

    A contract copied from a template or generated by AI, missing the one clause that mattered, the liability cap, the IP assignment, the termination terms. It works until the moment you need the missing piece, and then it does not.

    The IP that was never actually yours

    A pattern I see often: a startup commissions a developer or designer without an IP assignment clause. Months later, when they raise money or bring in a second developer, the question of who owns the original code or design becomes a real dispute. In many places, without a proper present-tense assignment, the IP legally stays with the person who made it, not the company that paid for it. Investors find this in diligence, and it can stall a round.

    The one-sided draft signed under pressure

    A founder receives a client’s or vendor’s contract, is in a hurry to close, and signs it as written. Later they discover the payment terms, the liability, or the exit clause were all stacked in the other side’s favour. The time to catch that is before signing, not after.

    None of these are exotic. They are ordinary, common, and expensive, and every one of them is avoidable with a contract drafted for your actual deal.

    Drafting, review or negotiation: which do you need?

    These are three different jobs. Pick the one that matches where your contract is today.

    Where you are The service
    The contract does not exist yet, or you want your own paper Contract drafting (this page)
    The other side sent you a draft and you want it checked before you sign Contract review services
    The terms are contested and the other side is pushing back Contract negotiation services
    The contract has been breached or a dispute has started Business dispute mediation and negotiation

    How it works

    From brief to final draft, with a lawyer review at every stage.

    Brief and discovery

    A real conversation about your deal, the counterparty, the jurisdiction, and your priorities.

    Drafting by a lawyer

    Drafted by a qualified lawyer with experience in this contract type, not a template engine.

    Internal review

    A second review for legal accuracy, commercial fit, and enforceability before it reaches you.

    Delivery with summary

    A plain-language walkthrough of the key clauses and where the other side may push back.

    Revisions

    Adjusted until the contract says exactly what you need.

    Finalisation

    Final draft ready for signing. Contract negotiation support is available if you want it.

    Who hires our contract lawyers.

    The same engagement works differently depending on where you sit. Here is what it looks like for each.

    Founders and startups

    Founders’ agreements, SAFEs, ESOP documents, and the client contracts your revenue depends on, drafted to survive investor diligence. Most of our startup work begins with one urgent contract and becomes ongoing retainer support.

    Freelancers and consultants

    A service agreement with payment terms that have teeth, IP terms that match what you actually sold, and scope language that prevents free work.

    Small and mid-size businesses

    Vendor, employment, and distribution contracts, standardized so every new deal does not start from a blank page.

    In-house and legal teams

    Overflow drafting at fixed fees when volume spikes, in your playbook and your house style.

    Which contract do you need?

    What it covers, the typical timeline, and what comes next, for the contracts we draft most often.

    Mutual or unilateral. Protects confidential information shared during early discussions, investor conversations, or vendor diligence. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours.

    For B2B services. Scope, deliverables, payment terms, liability, and termination, so both sides know exactly what they agreed to. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours.

    Governance, exit mechanics, transfer restrictions, drag-along and tag-along rights, and reserved matters for companies with multiple shareholders. Typically 3 to 5 days.

    Early-stage fundraising instruments with valuation cap, discount, and conversion mechanics drafted to match what investors expect to see. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours.

    Vesting, IP assignment, roles, decision-making, and exit terms between co-founders. The most commonly missed document in early-stage startups. Typically 3 to 5 days.

    Jurisdiction-aware drafting covering role, compensation, confidentiality, IP assignment, and properly scoped restrictive covenants. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours.

    B2B or B2C software terms covering licence scope, service levels, data handling, liability, and termination, aligned with your pricing model. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours.

    Drafted for GDPR, UK GDPR, India’s DPDPA, and CCPA as applicable, covering processor obligations, sub-processing, security, and data subject rights. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours. Guide: data processing agreement (DPA).

    For freelancers and consultants, covering scope, payment, IP assignment, and the classification language that avoids misclassification risk. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours. Guide: work for hire vs independent contractor.

    The most overlooked startup document. A present-tense assignment of IP created by founders, employees, and contractors, including future-created work. Delivered in 24 to 48 hours. Guide: IP assignment agreement.

    Multi-party governance, contribution, profit-sharing, and exit terms for joint ventures and strategic partnerships. Typically 3 to 5 days. Guide: joint venture agreement.

    Employee stock option plans, grant letters and approvals, by country. Typically 3 to 6 days.

    For the client commissioning the code or the developer writing it. Ownership, acceptance and change requests. Typically 3 to 5 days.

    Investment terms drafted or reviewed before you sign, so the key points are settled early. Typically 3 to 5 days.

    Territory, exclusivity, pricing, minimum commitments, and termination for distribution and reseller relationships. Typically 3 to 5 days.

    Contracts Guides

    Plain-language guides on hiring a contract lawyer, reviewing, ending and enforcing contracts.

    Costs, options and how to choose.

    What they handle and when you need one.

    What lawyers charge and how they bill.

    Clauses, risks and breach in one guide.

    The clauses every contract needs.

    A checklist to run before you sign.

    What counts as breach and what you can do.

    How to end a contract safely.

    Mediation, arbitration or litigation.

    The legal difference in plain words.

    More agreements we draft, with a guide to each.

    Contract drafting pricing.

    Fixed fees, agreed before any work begins. No billable hours, no surprise invoices. The bands below are starting points; your exact quote depends on the contract and its complexity, and you get it in under two hours.

    Tier Contracts Fixed fee Turnaround
    Standard NDAs, independent contractor, simple service agreements From $99 24–48 hours
    Business MSAs, employment contracts, SaaS terms, DPAs From $179 24–48 hours
    Complex / multi-party Shareholders’, founders’, joint ventures, cross-border From $249 3–5 days

    Every fee includes the drafting, an internal review, revisions until you are satisfied, and a plain-language summary of what you are signing.

    Get your exact quote

    You are not hiring a document. You are gaining a legal partner.

    Most contract drafting services hand you a file and disappear. When you come to me for a contract, I learn your business from day one, so the next thing that comes up, a client agreement to review, a hire to paper, a term sheet to negotiate, does not start from scratch. If you want that on a continuing basis, see our startup legal retainer.

    Related services: software development agreements, ESOP drafting, employment contracts by country, privacy policy drafting, terms and conditions drafting and legal opinions.

    Contract lawyers for every country we cover.

    A contract that works in Delaware is not automatically right for a company in Singapore. Employment terms written for the UK can fail requirements that apply to an Indian employee. Where a contract is governed decides what it needs to say to actually hold.

    India

    We draft contracts under Indian law. For India-specific contract drafting, review and negotiation, see our Contract Lawyers in India page.

    United States

    US contracts carry their own expectations: at-will employment, Delaware standards for investor documents, UCC considerations, and state-by-state differences in non-compete enforceability. See our contract lawyers in the USA for how remote, fixed-fee US work runs.

    Canada

    One country, two systems: the common law provinces and Quebec’s civil code, which treats formation and remedies differently. Cross-border work with US counterparties is routine here, and if the deal touches Quebec the drafting has to account for it, sometimes in both languages. More on our contract lawyers in Canada page.

    United Kingdom

    Post-Brexit, UK contracts need care around what EU law was retained and what has diverged, plus UK GDPR, English law implied terms, and Companies House compliance for shareholder documents. Our contract lawyers in London page covers UK engagements.

    European Union

    There is no single EU contract law. You choose one member state’s law under the Rome I rules, with EU-wide regimes layered on top: commercial agents can be owed compensation on termination regardless of what the contract says, consumer-facing terms face unfairness review, and data clauses have to work with GDPR. We draft with the specific member state and these overlays in mind. See our contract lawyers in the EU page.

    UAE and the GCC

    The UAE runs federal civil law alongside the common law jurisdictions of DIFC and ADGM, each with its own courts. A contract meant for DIFC is drafted differently from one under onshore UAE law. We work across both; see our contract lawyers in Dubai page.

    Australia

    Australian Consumer Law creates protections you cannot exclude by inserting a contrary clause, and Fair Work obligations shape employment contracts differently from the UK or India. Our contract lawyers in Melbourne page covers Australian work.

    Singapore and APAC

    Singapore is a frequent governing-law and arbitration seat for APAC joint ventures, holding structures, and distribution deals. We also handle Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Indonesia for regional expansion. Start with our contract lawyers in Singapore page.

    Argentina

    Argentine contracts sit under the Código Civil y Comercial. We draft Argentine-law contracts in Spanish and English; see our contract lawyers in Argentina page.

    Contract drafting for your industry.

    The industry shapes what a contract has to say. A fintech contract carries different regulatory weight from an e-commerce one; a SaaS agreement differs from a manufacturing supply contract.

    Technology and SaaS

    SaaS subscriptions, API licensing, software development contracts, white-label agreements, technology MSAs, and data processing agreements for GDPR, UK GDPR, DPDPA, and CCPA.

    Fintech and financial services

    Payment service agreements, lending platform contracts, partner bank agreements, and compliance documentation under RBI, FEMA, and equivalent frameworks.

    E-commerce and retail

    Vendor and marketplace seller agreements, distribution contracts, and platform terms.

    Healthcare and healthtech

    Telemedicine service agreements, healthtech platform terms, HIPAA business associate agreements in the US, and DPDPA-compliant data handling in India.

    Real estate and construction

    Development agreements, construction contracts, joint development agreements, lease deeds, and sale and purchase agreements with proper stamping and registration.

    Media and the creator economy

    Influencer and content licensing agreements, talent and production contracts, and IP assignment and usage rights for content marketplaces.

    Startups and venture-backed businesses

    Founders’ agreements, SAFEs and convertible notes, term sheets, shareholders’ agreements, ESOP documents, and Series A to C paperwork.

    What makes a contract actually hold up

    The clauses and wording most often missing from template contracts. Tap to expand each.

    01
    A limitation of liability that survives scrutiny
    +

    “Neither party shall be liable for any damages.” Often too broad to enforce.

    A cap tied to the contract value, such as the fees paid in the preceding twelve months, with carve-outs for IP infringement, breach of confidentiality, and indemnities.

    02
    IP assignment that actually transfers ownership
    +
    Without a present-tense assignment and coverage of future-created work, ownership of code, designs, or content made by a contractor can legally stay with the creator. The most expensive omission in technology contracts.
    03
    Payment terms with teeth
    +

    “Payment to be made within reasonable time.”

    “Payment due 30 days from invoice. Interest at 1.5% per month on overdue amounts. Service may be suspended after 45 days.”

    04
    Restrictive covenants that are actually enforceable
    +
    Over-broad non-competes get struck down as restraints on trade. The enforceable version is narrow: a defined geography, a limited duration, and a clear scope. A clause that tries to ban everything usually bans nothing.
    05
    Governing law and dispute resolution chosen on purpose
    +
    The boilerplate jurisdiction clause copied from a template can force you to litigate in a country where you have no presence. Choice of law and dispute mechanism should be deliberate decisions matched to enforceability, cost, and where the risk actually sits.
    06
    Words that mean different things to each side
    +

    “Reasonable efforts.” “Timely delivery.” “Support services.”

    “Delivery within 10 business days of the approved brief. Support covers email requests, answered within 1 business day, Monday to Friday.”

    07
    Renewal and exit terms you can actually use
    +
    Most people negotiate how a deal starts and barely read how it ends. An auto-renewal clause buried deep in the terms can renew a contract because a notice date was missed. State the notice date plainly, and give both sides a clear way out.
    08
    Clauses that do not contradict each other
    +
    A liability cap can be undone by an indemnity that sits outside it. An ownership clause can clash with a licence. Read the clauses together, not one by one. This is the most common flaw in AI-generated contracts and in templates stitched together from different sources.

    Client reviews

    What clients say about our contract work

    Daniel Wong Startup Owner, Singapore

    Our startup in Singapore collaborated with My Legal Pal for drafting investment agreements. They understood international investor concerns and provided documents that worked seamlessly in both jurisdictions.

    Shared with us directly
    Enforcer USA parkingsafeplus.com

    It was a breeze to work with Prakhar he was clear responsive, and was very easy going with any required changes.

    Shared with us directly
    Ethan Clarke Founder and Investor, Canada

    As a Canadian startup working with investors in Asia, we needed solid contracts that satisfied all parties. My Legal Pal delivered documents that were both internationally compliant and commercially practical.

    Shared with us directly
    Read all reviews

    Frequently asked questions about contract drafting services

    What types of contracts do you draft?
    NDAs, master service agreements, shareholders’ and founders’ agreements, SAFEs and convertible notes, employment and independent contractor agreements, SaaS terms, data processing agreements, IP assignments, distribution and reseller agreements, joint ventures, and bespoke commercial contracts. If it is a contract, we most likely draft it.
    What does a contract lawyer do?
    A contract lawyer drafts, reviews, negotiates, and helps enforce commercial agreements. Their job is to make sure what you agree to on paper reflects what you intended, protects you when things go wrong, and holds up legally when tested. Read more about what does a contract lawyer do.
    How much does contract drafting cost?
    Fixed fees, starting at $99 for standard contracts like NDAs and contractor agreements, $179 for business contracts like MSAs and SaaS terms, and $249 for complex or multi-party work like shareholders’ and founders’ agreements. Your exact quote depends on the contract, and you get it in under two hours.
    How long does drafting take?
    Standard contracts are usually delivered in 24 to 48 hours. Complex documents like shareholders’ agreements, joint ventures, and multi-jurisdictional contracts take 3 to 5 business days. Urgent turnaround is available.
    What do I need to send you?
    The names of the parties, what each side is agreeing to, the price and payment dates, the country whose law should govern the contract, any deadline, and any earlier emails or term sheet. A short call or WhatsApp message is enough to start.
    Can you draft contracts governed by foreign law?
    Yes. We serve clients in India, the US, UK, UAE, Singapore, Australia, Argentina and the wider APAC region, and draft contracts governed by the law of those countries, as well as multi-country contracts with a deliberate choice of governing law and dispute resolution clause. Where a country requires a locally admitted lawyer to advise or appear before its courts, we work with locally qualified counsel.
    Why not just use a template or an AI tool?
    A template does not know your business, so it fills generic blanks and skips the clauses specific to your deal. Those gaps usually surface at the worst moment, in a dispute or during diligence. A drafted contract does the thinking a template leaves out.
    Who actually drafts the contract?
    Contracts are drafted by qualified lawyers on our team, led by Prakhar Rai, an advocate enrolled with the Bar Council of India, not by a paralegal or a template engine. Every draft goes through a second internal review before it reaches you.
    Can I draft a contract myself?
    Legally, yes: a self-drafted contract can be binding. The risk is not validity but coverage. Self-drafted and template contracts tend to fail on the clauses you did not know to include: liability caps, IP assignment, termination mechanics, and a workable dispute-resolution clause. For low-stakes agreements, drafting it yourself is reasonable. When real money, IP, or equity is involved, the fee is small insurance.
    What is the difference between contract drafting and contract review?
    Drafting means we write the agreement from your deal terms. Review means the other side wrote it and we examine it for risks before you sign, flag them, and suggest revisions in tracked changes. Negotiation means the terms are contested and we work through the exchange with the other side. If you received a contract from a counterparty, you need contract review; if the terms are being fought over, you need contract negotiation; if you need the document to exist, you need drafting.
     
    Prakhar Rai

    Prakhar Rai | Advocate and Founder

    Prakhar Rai, Advocate and Founder.

    Your contract is drafted by a team led by Prakhar Rai, an advocate enrolled with the Bar Council. A graduate of La Martiniere College, he holds an LL.B. and a Master of Business Laws from the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, with specialization in Corporate, Banking, Intellectual Property, Finance, and Securities Laws.

    With over a decade of experience advising founders and businesses across borders, Prakhar started My Legal Pal because too many companies were getting fragmented, reactive legal advice, a different lawyer for every problem, none of whom knew the business. His approach is the opposite: understand the company from day one and stay with it as it grows.

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    Custom contracts, drafted by a lawyer who stays with you.

    Standard contracts in 24 to 48 hours. Complex work in 3 to 5 days. Fixed fees from $99, no surprises.

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