I have heard countless times that you should read a document before you sign it which is actually very wrong. You might as well just sign your name and possibly your livelihood away by this approach because it is no different than not even looking at the words on the paper before signing.
The correct approach to signing a legally binding contract is to not only read the document but more importantly, comprehend it. It’s very easy to breeze over some fancy legal jargon which at first glance seems completely harmless. But a single word or phrase can make the contract extremely unfair for you or your company and could end up costing your company severely in the long run.
I was just recently reading a confidentiality agreement and came across a word that I did not fully understand. After doing a bit of research, that one word allowed a third party to bring a lawsuit against our company (this term was not agreed to).
So, what do you do if you don’t understand something? I would suggest doing a little research by either talking to your coworkers/superiors and/or researching the term on the internet (use common sense and caution when using the internet as a resource). A better alternative if you can is having an attorney review the document and explain to you the meaning and possible ramifications of the contract. No matter what, you should always understand the terms and conditions of the contract prior to signing the document.
