Can I require a specific employee's contract be signed as a condition before I'll close?

Yes — making a specific employee's continued employment (or a signed new agreement with them) a closing condition is a common way for a buyer to protect the value of a deal that depends heavily on one or two key people, such as a founder, a lead salesperson, or someone with critical technical knowledge. The agreement simply states that closing is conditional on that individual having signed an acceptable employment agreement with the buyer by a certain point, giving the buyer an out if that person won't commit.

The practical challenge isn't whether you can include this condition — you generally can — but negotiating it delicately, since the employee in question may not want to be told their job now depends on satisfying a stranger's contract terms, and pushing too hard can sour the relationship you're trying to secure. It's also worth being clear about what "acceptable" means for that agreement, since a vague standard invites disputes about whether the condition was actually met.

If retaining specific people is central to why you're doing this deal at all, raise it early in negotiations, and have the condition and the underlying employment terms drafted together by a Treadstone business lawyer.