Very sad.
I recently gave my 3 page (really 2.5 pages) client services contract to a client and they came back with their own 9 page  &quot;standard contract&quot; for contractors. (I&#x27;m a developer.)<p>I couldn&#x27;t believe how overreaching their contract was. The most egregious paragraph stated that if I introduced a bug I would be liable for not just what they paid me - I would be liable for their <i>estimated loss of profits</i> !!!<p>I quoted that part of the contract and wrote back:<p>&quot;Nice try but yeah, no.&quot;<p>I had my lawyer go over it and take out all the stupid stuff and we came to an agreement.<p>Lesson: Read the contract. If you find that the contract is unduly unfair, ask if you can cross out the parts you don&#x27;t like. If they say yes, turn it over to your lawyer.<p>Lesson: There is no &quot;standard contract&quot;.<p>Lesson: If they say &quot;It&#x27;s a formality that we&#x27;ll never enforce.&quot; Cross it out. (&quot;Then you won&#x27;t mind if I cross it out.&quot;)<p>Lesson for contracts [my lawyer taught me this]: If you put something egregiously one sided in your contracts you will break trust with the other party. In my case it triggered a &quot;Whoa, where else are they trying to screw me?&quot; response which triggers the &quot;this is job for my lawyer&quot; response.<p>If the contract is for your enemies, do whatever you want. If it is designed for parties that you want to work <i>with</i>, it&#x27;s sending the message that you can&#x27;t be trusted is not a good way to start the relationship.