Do You Actually Need a Solicitor for This Contract?

Written by Richard O'Shea, Solicitor TEP · Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981 · Last reviewed 21 August 2026

The four questions that decide it

• What's the worst realistic outcome? Not the likely one — the worst one. If you could absorb it without real damage, the stakes may not justify fees. If it reaches your home, your company's survival or a personal guarantee, they do
• Who wrote the document? Your own solicitor: reuse it with confidence. A template: see the comparison. The other side: assume every default favours them — the case for a review strengthens with every page
• Is the relationship balanced? Equals doing a standard deal can often paper it simply. Where one side drafts, insists and hurries, the imbalance is exactly what a review prices
• Is anything unusual? Foreign law, personal guarantees, indemnities, restraints, IP transfer, exclusivity, long lock-ins: each is a flag that the document is doing non-obvious work

Clear yes / clear no

Get advice: building contracts above modest sums, business sales, leases, settlement agreements (statutory rights are being waived), franchises, anything with a personal guarantee, anything under foreign law, and any document you don't understand that the other side won't explain in writing. Probably fine without: low-value standard purchases, simple mutual NDAs between equals, renewals of documents previously reviewed where nothing changed.

The two-minute triage

The Contract Risk Checker asks eight questions and tells you which flags your contract raises — free, anonymous, honest about when the answer is "you're probably fine". If it says talk to someone, the first call costs nothing and the fee for a review is fixed in writing before you commit: see how fees work.