Surfing the Web for Legal Forms
By Catherine Sansum Kirkman
As the author of this column, and as a high-tech Silicon Valley lawyer, I am often asked for guidance by start-up companies who need assistance with legal contracts. Such companies are often faced with a chicken-and-egg problem: They cannot divert from the core business venture the resources necessary to obtain handcrafted legal agreements stamped with a seal of approval; however, building a valuable business requires solid, enforceable contracts. This column will discuss online resources that include software-industry forms you can use in your business.
The Partner Package
Probably the best online source of legal contracts that exists today is Web*LawPartner. The site is divided into legal practice areas that cover all aspects of the high-tech industry, not just the Internet and software licensing. There are legal forms for a start-up business, computers and software, employment and consulting, partnerships, intellectual property, real estate, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial transactions, among other topics. This gives the end user access to a legal-forms database not unlike those maintained on a large law firm's intranet. Anyone can access the site without a subscription fee. You are free to surf the site, and look at the title, summary, and a brief preview of an unlimited number of documents. A typical preview for a twenty-page agreement consists of about a page and a half of the total agreement.
