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Complex Contracts
When I draft a complex contract, I draw on my legal experience since 1989; my experience with contract law includes litigation involving various legal contracts, complex contracts, and breach of contract cases related to various types of contract cases and lawsuits as well as extensive involvement in pre-lawsuit negotiations related to both simple and complex contracts. In order to avoid disputes over contract language in the future, and to make legal contracts as clear as possible, I consider the impact of the past experience I have with contract law and breach of contract interpretations by other lawyers and courts of law. There is always a tension in drafting the perfect legal contract. In order to make every contract term and provision absolutely unquestionable, and not a fertile ground for dispute or litigation: on the one hand, the way to achieve the goal of absolute clarity, is to spell out every possible item of the contract terms and contract dispute possibilities, in excruciating detail; on the other hand, every layer of contract language is more words, and lawyers can always find a way to argue about words, so less can be more. Drafting as well as litigating breach of contract cases is an art, and an attempt to approach the dynamic process of contract analysis and interpretation as a black and white science is doomed to fail.
Where a dispute develops regarding an existing contract, even simple contracts can generate complex legal issues; and where the contract is complex, in the sense of having a length of ten, twenty or more pages, and/or detailed legal wording, the attorney must have a view of the legal forest, as well as the trees. My first exposure to complex contracts was as a law clerk for a judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, where I did legal research and memoranda writing for the court on such complicated contract law issues as cases involving questions of insurance coverage, settlement of lawsuits, and other types of contract cases. Since then, it is fair to say that contract law has been the bread and butter of my law practice, although I also practice in other areas, such as negligence and personal injury, family and divorce law, and construction law.
I have experience in litigating complex contracts against large law firms; there are economic and tactical advantages in having a capable lawyer on your side, instead of a large, hierarchical organization. When the need arises, I have experienced colleagues upon whom I can rely for assistance.
Thomas Rand is a lawyer who has considerable experience in civil litigation in courts in Maryland and D.C., including contract disputes over real estate developments and commercial projects, other types of real property cases, and homeowners' association disputes. Thomas Rand was an attorney in one of the largest dollar cases in Montgomery County, Maryland in the 1980's, involving a contract dispute surrounding a 400+ acre farm in upper Montgomery County, with a contract over 35 pages long, involving a host of re-zoning contingencies and many other complexities. At 26 years old, with only three years' experience practicing law, Mr. Rand argued a summary judgment motion in this multi-million dollar case against a top-notch lawyer with twenty years' experience, who was a former president of both the Montgomery County and Maryland Bar Associations. If you think you might soon become embroiled in a serious civil litigation matter, you should seek legal advice immediately. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" does not apply only to medicine.
Where a dispute develops regarding an existing contract, even simple contracts can generate complex legal issues; and where the contract is complex, in the sense of having a length of ten, twenty or more pages, and/or detailed legal wording, the attorney must have a view of the legal forest, as well as the trees. My first exposure to complex contracts was as a law clerk for a judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, where I did legal research and memoranda writing for the court on such complicated contract law issues as cases involving questions of insurance coverage, settlement of lawsuits, and other types of contract cases. Since then, it is fair to say that contract law has been the bread and butter of my law practice, although I also practice in other areas, such as negligence and personal injury, family and divorce law, and construction law.
I have experience in litigating complex contracts against large law firms; there are economic and tactical advantages in having a capable lawyer on your side, instead of a large, hierarchical organization. When the need arises, I have experienced colleagues upon whom I can rely for assistance.
Thomas Rand is a lawyer who has considerable experience in civil litigation in courts in Maryland and D.C., including contract disputes over real estate developments and commercial projects, other types of real property cases, and homeowners' association disputes. Thomas Rand was an attorney in one of the largest dollar cases in Montgomery County, Maryland in the 1980's, involving a contract dispute surrounding a 400+ acre farm in upper Montgomery County, with a contract over 35 pages long, involving a host of re-zoning contingencies and many other complexities. At 26 years old, with only three years' experience practicing law, Mr. Rand argued a summary judgment motion in this multi-million dollar case against a top-notch lawyer with twenty years' experience, who was a former president of both the Montgomery County and Maryland Bar Associations. If you think you might soon become embroiled in a serious civil litigation matter, you should seek legal advice immediately. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" does not apply only to medicine.
Thomas S. Rand, Jr. Attorney at Law
600 Jefferson Plaza, Suite 308
Rockville, MD 20852-1150
PHONE: 301-762-9226 FAX: 301-762-9227
E-mail Address: Tom Rand
600 Jefferson Plaza, Suite 308
Rockville, MD 20852-1150
PHONE: 301-762-9226 FAX: 301-762-9227
E-mail Address: Tom Rand
