The Contracting and Organizations Research Institute ("CORI") affliated with the University of Missouri is a research institute founded to conduct empirical research on contracting and organization structure.  CORI Fellows are engaged in research on a variety of topics in the areas of corporate governance, contractual relations, managerial economics, and organizational structure.

Here are some of the tools offered by the Contracting and Organization Research Institute:

White Papers:  CORI Fellows publish White Papers on a variety of topics including:

• #2005-01 ,"Evaluating Bundled Discounts," Thomas Andrew Lambert (published in Minnesota Law Review, 89, 2005)
• #2003-01, "Why Does The Introduction of Monetary Compensation Produce A Reduction In Performance?" Harvey S. James, Jr. (forthcoming in Journal of Economic Psychology retitled as "Why Did You Do That? An Economic Examination of the Effect of Extrinsic Compensation on Intrinsic Motivation and Performance")

• #2001-05, "A Legal Basis for Workers as Agents: Employment Contracts, Common Law, and the Theory of the Firm," Harvey S. James, Jr. (published in International Journal of the Economics of Business, 10(1), 2003)

Digital Contract Database:  CORI maintains a digital contracts library with over 700,000 contracts.  This library includes:

• Business Acquisition Forms such as Asset Purchase Agreements, Joint Ventures, Merger Agreements, and Stock Purchase Agreements.
• Business Transaction Forms such as Government Contracts, Intellectual Property Agreements and Licenses, Leases, Sales/Purchase of Real Estate, and Sales/Purchase of Goods and Services.
• Compensation and Employment Forms such as Benefit/Incentive Plans, Compensation/Employment Agreements, Contractor/Consulting Agreements, and Severance Agreements.
• Finance Forms such as Guarantees, Loan Agreement, Notes, and Trust Agreements.
• Franchise Forms
• Corporate Governance Forms such as Formation Documents, Governance/Operational Documents, and Codes of Ethics/Conduct.

Now, CORI is definitely not designed for those engaged in "do it yourself" self-help drafting of legal documents and instruments.  However, it is a useful tool for attorneys drafting similar documents.  I have often used documents found on CORI as the starting point for drafting documents for our clients.  However, even if you aren't an attorney, it also provides laymen some insight into corporate America.  The contract database includes contracts and other documents drafted by the finest corporate and transactional attorneys in the country for well-known corporations ranging from Google to IBM and many others.