你會寫合同嗎？是不是為繁瑣的格式和不雜的文字而愁眉不展呢？這里給大家介紹一些合同寫作的技巧，希望能幫你順利寫好合同。首先我們來看看合同寫作的準備工作。
1. Ask your client to list the deal points. This can be in the form of a
list, outline or narration. Doing this will help the client focus on the terms
of the agreement.
要求你的客戶列出合同交易的要點，也可以說是合同的清單、目錄或概述。這一招首先幫助你的客戶弄清合同的重點所在。
2. Engage your client in "what if" scenarios. A good contract will anticipate
many possible factual situations and express the parties' understanding in case
those facts arise. Talking to your client about this will generate many issues
you may not otherwise consider.
讓你的客戶提供一些假設可能發生的情況。好的合同不僅能夠預見到許多可能發生的情況，而且還能清楚地描述出發生這些情況后合同雙方的立場。和客戶聊這些情況將有助于你發現一些可能沒有考慮到的問題。
3. Ask your client for a similar contract. Frequently, clients have had
similar transactions in the past or they have access to contracts for similar
transactions.
請求你的客戶提供類似的合同。通常情況下，客戶都保留著過去的交易記錄或者是類似合同。
4. Search your office computer or the Internet for a similar form. Many times
you can find a similar form on your computer. It may be one you prepared for
another client or one you negotiated with another lawyer. Just remember to find
and replace the old client's name. Starting with an existing form saves time and
avoids the errors of typing.
在辦公室的電腦中或是在因特網上搜索類似的合同范本。通常你會在你的電腦上找到你想要的東西，這些類似的合同范本要么是你給其他客戶準備的，要么是你和其他的律師共同協商起草的。使用這些舊合同可以為你節省時間和避免打印錯誤，不過，用這些合同范本時別忘了替換掉老客戶的名字。
5. Obtain forms in books or CD-ROM. Typical forms of contracts can be found
in form books. These can be used as the starting point for drafting the contract
or as checklists of typical provisions and wording to include in the contract.
Many treatises and form books now come with forms on disk or CD-ROM.
從書中或者是光盤上獲取合同范本。典型的合同范本在一些文體書中都可能找到。起草合同時，你可以把這些范本當作原始資料，利用其中某些典型的條款和措詞。許多專著和文體書都有配套的磁盤或是光盤。
6. Don't let your client sign a letter of intent without this wording.
Sometimes clients are anxious to sign something to show good faith before the
contract is prepared. A properly worded letter of intent is useful at such
times. Just be sure that the letter of intent clearly states that it is not a
contract, but that it is merely an outline of possible terms for discussion
purposes.
如果沒有特別申明，不要讓你的客戶在意向書上簽字。有時候，在合同未準備好之前，客戶為了表示誠意，往往急于簽署某些東西，當然，在這種情況下，如果客戶急于簽署的是有特別申明的意向書，這也是可以的，但一定要注明：本意向書并非合同，只是雙方為了更好地溝通協商，而擬定的對未來條款的概述。
（來源：阿里巴巴 英語點津 Annabel 編輯）
