Learn to read a contract.
Short, practical videos on contract terms, red flags, and what to look for before you sign. Made by the team behind BeforeJD.
Start with who you are
17 guides
1:00GuideAuto-renewal clauses: the notice date to watchAn auto-renewal clause keeps a contract running unless someone gives notice in time. This guide reads one from a real business agreement filed with the SEC, where the notice is due a full year early.
1:04GuideThe IP clause that could own your side projectAn invention assignment clause can give your employer what you build outside working hours, if it relates to the business. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
1:01GuideThe clause that limits how much you can recoverA limitation of liability clause can set the most you can recover, however large the loss. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
1:04GuideNDA and confidentiality clauses explainedMuch confidentiality risk is not the promise to keep secrets. It is how long the promise lasts, and how much it covers. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
1:06GuideWhat "indemnify and hold harmless" actually meansTo indemnify is to agree to pay the other side’s losses, and a broad clause can cost far more than the fee. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
1:01GuideThe clause that takes your dispute out of courtA mandatory arbitration clause usually moves a dispute out of court, with no jury and no class action. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
0:57GuideThe freelance clause that hands over your copyrightA work made for hire clause hands the client everything you make for it, and a backup assignment catches whatever the first words miss. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
1:02GuideThe clause that lets them change your bonus terms at any timeA bonus clause can leave the amount, terms and conditions to the employer, to change at any time. This guide reads one from a real offer letter filed with the SEC. State law may protect a bonus once it is earned.
1:00GuideNon-compete agreementsA non-compete can keep you out of your own field after you leave. This guide reads one from a real employment agreement filed with the SEC.
1:02GuideThe clause that lets them end the deal earlyA termination for convenience clause lets one side end the deal at any time, with no fault needed. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC. How a court treats a clause like this can depend on state law.
1:01GuideThis clause makes you personally liable for your company’s loanA personal guarantee puts your own assets behind your company’s debt, so the lender can ask you to pay if the company does not. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
0:55GuideThe clause that decides where you have to show upA governing law and venue clause picks whose law applies and where a claim must be filed. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
1:10GuideThe clauses that outlive the contractA survival clause lists the duties that keep binding after a contract ends, and some of them have no end date. This guide reads one from a real agreement filed with the SEC.
0:46TourWatch a read, start to finishOne lease, read from upload to verdict: the findings in plain English, and your own document returned with every change marked, with an email that sends it back.
0:35TourDraft a contract from a short questionnaireNeed a contract, not a review? Choose the agreement, answer a short questionnaire in plain English, and BeforeJD writes the finished agreement and checks it from your side.
0:33TourCollect signatures on the same recordFor teams and organizations, when the contract is ready, sign it where you read it: add each signer in order, place the fields, and see who has opened it, who has signed and who is still waiting.
2:01TourKnow what you are signingWhat BeforeJD does, in about two minutes: it reads your contract before you sign it, then helps you fix it and draft it, and teams and organizations can collect the signatures, with an answer in plain English along the way.
In production
- The lease clause that decides who pays for repairs
- The six clauses to read first
Read your own contract.
Your first read is free.
Read a contract