Downloading
The advent of the internet has created the digital platform where laws as well as legal information, commentaries and documents are now accessible to all and not only to a privileged few as it used to be. There are now numerous templates and ready-made contract agreements, memorandum of understanding, deeds and several legal documents which are available online for contractors, employers, consultants, buyers, suppliers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and service providers.
This edition of Akintunde Esan’s Legal Illumination is a quick glance at the benefits and risks of using legal documents downloaded or obtained online in Nigeria.
The Benefits
The obvious major advantages of using a contract agreement or any other legal documents downloaded or obtained online are:
1. no payment of solicitor’s fee
2. quick online access
The Risks
Experience has shown that, while getting a legal template or a ready-made legal document online may be cost effective and time saving in the short run, it may lead to heavy losses, waste of valuable time on intractable disputes and lawsuits in the long run for the following reasons:
1. Most of the ready-made agreements and legal documents online are not tailor-made for Nigerian jurisprudence and legal realities, they drafted based on the socioeconomic environment and jurisprudence of foreign jurisdictions.
2. Some of the contract agreements contain clauses that Nigerian Courts will declare null and void when challenged in Court.
3. A lot of them are not in compliance with the local regulatory and statutory requirements of Nigeria.
The Way Forward
The way forward from a clearheaded legal perspective is to contact a Nigerian Solicitor with a proper grasp of the jurisprudence of the subject matter of the downloaded agreement or legal document to:
1. review the agreement or legal document
2. redraft the agreement or legal document; or
3. you may contact Akintunde Esan of Ase Olodumare Chambers for further illumination.
Akintunde Esan is the Managing Partner/Principal Consultant @ Ase Olodumare Chambers, a Lagos, Nigeria based Law Firm providing legal solutions and consultancy services to local and international clients.
DOWNLOADING CONTRACTS AGREEMENTS AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS ONLINE IN NIGERIA is a legal illumination of AKINTUNDE ESAN known as The LEGAL ADVISER ONLINE. Akintunde Esan is the Managing Partner & Principal Consultant @ ASE OLODUMARE CHAMBERS (Legal Practitioners/Consultants & Chartered Mediators)
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