Ask HN: Contract-less Contract work

I'm just finishing college, and have landed my first big contracting job. However, I don't have a clue what to do about contracts. Both my current job and the previous one were based only on an email agreement. These jobs so far have worked out fine (waiting on my first check from my new job later this week). Then I listened to Mike Monteiro on the pipeline [1] and in 'Fuck you, Pay me' [2] and I'm really worried.

I have a few questions:

1. Do I need a contract? It's obviously a good thing, but is it necessary? how strong (socially/legally) is an understood agreement?

2. Where can I get a contract written? Do I need to have my own lawyer? I'm making pretty good money, but I'm just starting out, and I don't have much to go with -- is there some semi-standard contract that I can just use (with slight modifications)?

3. I'm out in a fairly startup-barren place (Milwaukee) -- should I get a lawyer here, or try to find a freelance/startup lawyer somewhere else?

Thanks for any any and all advice.

[1] http://5by5.tv/pipeline/43 [2] http://vimeo.com/22053820