Many members of the community depend on trade as a source of income. The recent period has witnessed a widening of the circle of commercial companies and a noticeable variety of activities that benefit society and partners as well. Many entrepreneurs and even experienced traders may face some concerns about their partnership contracts and their adequacy and protection. Here I will briefly review the most important general legal guidelines. First, a partnership is simply defined as an agreement under which two or more natural or legal persons are obliged to contribute to a joint venture. The contribution is either by a share of money, work or experience, and of course it results in the sharing of the profit from its activity or to achieve a common economic benefit such as upgrading the services or sales. Why do we treat the partnership contract with all this caution and attention? Because it is not only a regular contract; it sets out the fundamentals and conditions of the partnership, the mechanism of its management, the profit sharing and the realization of various economic benefits. The contract must contain clear information about the partners, including their official documentations, addresses and direct contact information. Then comes the proper recognition of the partners’ eligibility and their full certainty of the terms and objectives of this partnership, for example, a minor cannot enter into a partnership with others. Then comes the offer and acceptance, where the partners consent and agree on the form and type of the company, whether it is a regular partnership such as a joint or limited-liability company or a joint stock company. The partners must also agree on the company’s Articles of Association, its capital, its activity, its management mechanism, its headquarters and other conditions in which the role of the legal consultants is important to make such articles more precise and clear, and to mitigate the chance of any future dispute between the partners. We now come to the company’s type of activity, and the field of activity that the partners aim to work on and achieve. The choice of activity must be carefully observed to make sure that it is legitimate and cannot be dealt with as a cover for illegal or prohibited activities that contradict public regulations and ethics. Moreover, this activity should not be fictitious. After the eligibility, offer, acceptance and type of activity comes the specification of the company’s objectives, which must be clear in the contract and to all partners in a manner that does not leave anything open for interpretation or explanation; for example, the company’s main aims are to cover the market needs or regular profit and many other commercial objectives. The above-mentioned points are only the basics of partnership contracts. There are other important rules that must be included in the contract in detail to help the company to achieve its objectives, to facilitate communication and to clarify the powers between partners. Also, the use of the skills and competencies of each partner must be codified and regulated so as to integrate with the skills and powers of the other partner or the remaining partners, not to interfere and complicate the mechanism of collective effort on which the company is based and thus impede the achievement of the desired objectives. Some may argue that the use of a lawyer or legal adviser to monitor and codify the company is a luxury or a last resort in the event of a crisis, while in fact it will protect the company from entering the catacombs of conflicts and even losses and missing benefits. Of course, choosing the right partner consciously and rationally ensures continuity and success for the company and provides the partners with a lot of effort in communication and cooperation. Dimah Talal Alsharif is a Saudi legal consultant, head of the health law department at the law firm of Majed Garoub and a member of the International Association of Lawyers. Twitter: @dimah_alsharif Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point-of-view