Drafting a Lease Template
This week I was tasked with formulating a pro-forma lease template for distribution to the International Programs Division. Although I have now taken both property and contracts and am somewhat familiar with what a lease agreement should look like, this is the first time I have ever actually drafted a lease agreement or a contract of any sort! I was worried that I would not know where to start, but thankfully I had access to examples of leases that NCSC has used in field offices in Pakistan, Bosnia, and Serbia in years past. I also got to work alongside the other legal intern in the office to complete this project, so the two of us did our best to put our heads together and work through the challenge!
As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, NCSC has field offices across the globe, and when new field offices are opened, NCSC must register as a corporate entity to establish a legal presence. Early steps to opening a field office and establishing a legal presence include locating office premises and signing a lease. Leases are typically locally generated contracts, as they have to be responsive to local law. However, there are many commonalities in lease agreements across legal jurisdictions, so the other legal intern and I created a lease template that field offices may use as a reference when preparing a local lease agreement. We made sure to include the standard clauses related to renewal, termination, quiet possession, responsibility for maintenance and repair, etc. However, we also created a checklist for field offices to refer to when using the lease template to ensure that they hit all of the important requirements and that they consider clauses that may be specific to the country where the lease will be signed. Lastly, we created a manual to refer to when using the template and the checklist. We were sure to indicate that while the lease we formed can be used as a template, field offices must be sure to refer to local law and should possibly consult local legal counsel. As I worked through this project, it was neat to see some concepts of both property and contract law that I learned throughout my 1L year. It was also very rewarding to create a legal product that will actually be used in NCSC field offices across the globe.
After wrapping up this project, the other intern and I started to turn our attention to a new project. In the last week of our internship, we will have to present to the entirety of the International Programs Department on an emerging rule of law topic of our choice. We decided that we will be preparing a comparative analysis of judicial transparency in the US, Moldova, and Tunisia. NCSC currently administers rule of law projects in both Moldova and Tunisia, so the information should be interesting to the staff. We are in the very early stages of research as of now, but we have plenty of time to pull the presentation together, so there will be updates to come!