October 16, 2007
Retrieving and Using Contracts Filed with the SEC
Here is some good info from Kenneth Adams’ blog: In this December 2006 post, I discussed ways of retrieving contracts that have been filed on the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s EDGAR system. In a comment I mentioned an additional source, RealDealDocs, but noted that I hadn’t kicked their tires.
Well, I still haven’t, because I’m happy doing my own searches on Lexis (Broc’s note: free searches can done on the SEC’s site). But if you’re interested in RealDealDocs, Dennis Kennedy gives some basic information about them in this TechnoLawyer article.
As I said in my original post, the fact that a contract is on EDGAR is—to say the least—no guarantee of quality. Note that Dennis says that a contract retrieved from EDGAR “can serve as an initial prototype, a checklist for issues, or as a useful way to determine how others treat similar deals.” He pointedly doesn’t suggest that after swapping out party information and key deal terms you could safely use an EDGAR contract as your own.