We’ve been talking the past few posts about boilerplate language in contracts. This standardized language that falls towards the end of almost all contract documents might seem to be excessive and pointless, especially when you’re trying to do the writing yourself.

Don’t be so fast to discard it, or to assume that only lawyers care about the “fine print.” Let’s look at another term. Frequently, contracts will have a clause called a “no waiver” clause. This language says that just because a party waives its rights in one situation, does not imply or require them to waive those rights in another similar or even identical situation. You could say it’s protection against the “no good deed goes unpunished” rule.