It's a standard contract, just sign here

"It's a standard contract, just sign here." 

How many times have you heard that?  It's a standard contract.  Unfortunately many people do sign and are surprised when that "Standard contract" comes back to haunt them later on down the line.  That's because they really don't know what is in that contract.  It doesn't matter if you know or understand because when you put your name on the dotted line you are basically saying that you know and understand what is in that contract, so you are bound by it.

Someone else's lawyer has written up an agreement and you signed it.

There's a common misconception that there are no lawyers involved if you don't see them.  False!  You may not see a lawyer but what you sign is the work of a lawyer.  Lawyers are behind the scenes drawing up business contracts which is what the business puts in front of you.  Yes when you go to get cell phone service you sign the phone company's standard service agreement.  This document was deliberated on and drawn up by the phone company's lawyer, of course they are going to say it's "standard"

Most people just sign, but you do have the right to have your own lawyer review it before you sign.  Why would you want to do that?  Well beyond the fact that you can be just as snotty as the rich folks, having it reviewed by your lawyer will protect your rights.  Fly by night car dealerships often prayed on the military.  Young men and women would go into the dealerships and buy a used car only to find themselves facing a balloon payment they did not know about.

Many people in America right now are facing foreclosure on their homes.  They signed adjustable rate mortgages (ARM's) without realizing that they were at risk of rising monthly mortgage payments.

So how do mortgage companies phone companies and others manage to pull the wool over people's eyes?  They don't.  The clauses and conditions are spelled out in black and white, it's called "fine print".  Most people have never picked up a book of law much less read one.  We don't know what to look for we give it a quick once over but still don't understand what we are looking at.  Attorneys do.

I've used the document review benefit several times under my legal membership.  It doesn't cost me anything more so I will fax a document to my law firm in a heartbeat.  I've been surprised at what I have been told after the attorneys have reviewed them.  Some of the most nitpicky little things they have found make a major difference in the meaning of the document.
It never crossed my mind that something as simple as asentence being bold can make a difference.  An extra line space between paragraphs can leave room for something else to be inserted after you sign.  My favorite little nitpick the omission of a comma. 

All of those little things the attorneys picked up on, the document looked fine to me but to them it left room for altering, not having the first sentence of a paragraph in bold combined two different paragraphs into one and the omission of a simple comma would have placed major liability on me.  Before I got this membership I would have just signed the contract without knowing what I was signing.  Now honestly about the only thing I won't have them review is a birthday card!