A cooperation agreement is like a lease in New York City. You don’t read it. You just sign it and agree to pay the rent for a certain term. If things don’t work out it is because someone did not keep their side of the bargain. The landlord didn’t maintain his property or the tenants didn’t pay their rent.
Cooperation agreements work the same way. They don’t require review, because they all state the same things. Defendants sign them and agree to cooperate with the government. There is little negotiation, if any, between the parties. The government decides whether it wants a defendant’s cooperation, the defendant decides whether or not to cooperate. If the agreement does not work out it is because the defendant did not cooperate or the prosecutor unreasonably withheld a 5k (cooperation recommendation) letter. If you want a closer look at the fine print, knock yourself out, but little if anything is going to change.
It is important to note that cooperation agreements are only as good as the parties who sign them. If the defense and the prosecutor disagree on issues that must be decided by a judge, chances are overwhelming that the prosecutor will prevail. All the prosecutor has to do is allege a good faith basis for withholding a recommendation letter and the defendant is toast. Therefore, you must gauge whether or not you can trust the prosecutor and the agents before entering a cooperation agreement. Warren Buffett, a well known investor in the United States, said it best: “You can’t make a good deal with a bad person.” You do for them, they do for you. The rest is boilerplate.
This uniformity applies to all agreements between prosecutors and defendants including proffer and plea agreements. There is not much room for negotiations.