Drafting Legal Documents and Contracts in English

An agreement or contract is required for any planned business activity in order to minimize the risk of any losses occurring. In this regard, a contract regulates the rights and obligations of the parties involved in a given activity. Several aspects need to be taken into consideration during the preparation of a contract, including the identification of the relevant parties and negotiations pertaining to the parts or structure of the contract. Moreover, regulations that are currently in force and that specifically address contracts, such as legal conditions, various contract types, and so on, are specifically addressed under Articles 1233 to Article 1864 of Indonesia's Civil Code.

The ability to draft contracts for both national and international use has become an urgent requirement for business actors. However, during the drawing up of many contracts, the relevant parties merely duplicate pre-existing draft contracts, ultimately resulting in said parties not fully understanding the contents of said contracts, particularly contracts that are drafted in English. Indeed, many business actors require English language contracts, despite lacking adequate proficiency in this global language. This often results in parties drawing up contracts that lacked clarity and relevance. Such lack of precision may not result in any consequences in the short term, however, in the long run, problems can arise in the form of losses that could have been avoided if contracts had been drawn up correctly in the first place.

There is therefore an urgent need for a deeper knowledge and understanding of contract drafting to take root, particularly contracts that are drawn up in English. In this regard, contracts should be drafted in line with applicable rules and regulations. Moreover, contract-related disputes should also be resolved through applicable rules and regulations.