Quote:
Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx
I don't know about where you live but in Australia it is just not on that a lawyer should be required prior to entering into a contract either of or for employment. The contracts have to be written in language that can be readily understood, with all their clauses clearly stated.
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For a normal employment contract yes, of course you're right, but a book contract is a rather different thing. I speak from personal experience, here; in fact the publisher I had a contract with to write a couple of textbooks specifically advised me to have it looked at by a lawyer - I think that was very good advice, and I'd advise anyone to do the same.
None of that excuses unfair contracts, of course, and please don't think that I'm in any way condoning such things - I'm certainly not. But a lawyer will be much better able to spot any potential "gotchas" in a contract than an ordinary person will.
In the UK there's a specific law called the "Unfair Contract Terms Act" which makes obviously unfair clauses in a contract illegal (and invalid).