Contract Law

A contract rarely affects just one aspect of a client's affairs. An entrepreneur receives a business partnership agreement and wants to understand its clauses before committing, particularly on exiting the partnership. An individual signs a commercial lease or a service agreement and wants to assess what they are actually agreeing to, beyond the standard wording. A family business is negotiating a contract with a major supplier and wants an outside opinion before signing. A client finds that an existing contract is not working out as expected and wants to know whether they can terminate it or renegotiate its terms.

In each of these situations, the question is not purely legal: it concerns what the contract actually costs over time, and what risk it creates in the event of a dispute. Lexper reads the contract as a whole, identifies the clauses that deserve particular attention, and builds a negotiation or challenge strategy suited to the client's situation. Putting figures on the options is part of the everyday work: comparing the cost of a renegotiation with that of a termination, or the cost of a dispute with that of an amicable settlement.

When the file requires drafting a formal instrument with major consequences for the client, or contentious proceedings before a court, Lexper retains, with the client's consent, a registered attorney (admitted to a Swiss cantonal bar registry) specializing in contract law. For certain instruments, a notary may also be called on. Lexper coordinates these interventions and remains the client's point of contact for the whole of the file.

A contract review beforehand generally costs less than a dispute after signing. This is particularly true of exit and termination clauses, often tucked away at the end of the document even though they determine what happens the day the contractual relationship turns sour.

Lexper pays particular attention to contracts that commit the client over the long term, such as commercial leases, partnership agreements, and shareholders' agreements, because these are the ones where a poorly negotiated clause takes effect years later, at a point when it becomes harder to correct. An outside eye, trained to read a contract from both a legal and a financial angle, often reveals points the parties themselves had not identified as contentious.