ARTICLE
6 November 2024

Developing A Contract Playbook: How To Remain Competitive And Avoid Unnecessary Cost And Liability

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Golan Christie Taglia

Contributor

Golan Christie Taglia is dedicated to delivering successful results while providing our clients with the highest levels of quality and personal service. With offices in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, we provide an exceptional experience and outstanding service to a wide variety of clients including entrepreneurial businesses, family businesses, high-net-worth individuals and non-profit organizations.

For 30 years, Golan Christie Taglia has consistently met or surpassed our clients’ needs by maintaining a simple, yet effective philosophy. Your Success. Our Focus.

As your business engages in its ordinary course of activities, various types of contracts such as engagement letters, vendor service agreements and consulting agreements will be negotiated and entered into.
United States Corporate/Commercial Law

As your business engages in its ordinary course of activities, various types of contracts such as engagement letters, vendor service agreements and consulting agreements will be negotiated and entered into. Though these contracts are often standardized and include boilerplate language, many terms remain negotiable and clients may push back on certain clauses. While the terms of these routine contracts may appear standard or unimportant, they warrant close consideration to avoid unanticipated costs and liabilities down the road.

In most cases, it is inefficient and uneconomical to contact corporate counsel each time a client pushes back on a clause or offers additional language to a routine agreement. Instead, we recommend working with corporate counsel to develop a contract playbook to streamline and standardize the process of managing contracts.

A contract playbook categorizes different types of contracts and lists the standard contractual clauses and fallback or preferred positions for each clause. It also provides a negotiator with clear guidance for negotiating certain clauses by including plain language rationale for the use of a certain clause. Most importantly, it highlights when to escalate an issue to a business approver or corporate counsel, which reduces the pressure for a negotiator to give way on crucial points to get a contract across the finish line, which could result in exposing the business to unnecessary cost and liability. Ideally, a contract playbook should allow a negotiator to complete a contract without needing to consult with corporate counsel for review and approval on frequently negotiated terms, which helps businesses remain competitive in their industry by saving time and money during contract negotiations.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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