What goes wrong and what can you do about it? 

As a key account manager, you may not write the customer contract, but you will have to work and live with it. So shouldn’t you be involved in drafting it?

But do you really appreciate how contracts work? How often do you find yourself head-to-head with Legal? As an important stakeholder in the drafting and delivery of the contract, wouldn’t a better understanding make the whole process and the subsequent relationship run more smoothly?

Contracts go wrong for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes the problem is nothing to do with the contract paperwork: a supplier fails to deliver, or a customer refuses to pay, or a force majeure event (think Covid) makes fulfilment impossible. Often, though, the wording of the contract either causes or contributes to the problem. Common situations are lack of clarity in the payment arrangements, inadequate project planning, ambiguity in the technical specification of deliverables, and failure to think through the implications of possible breach and termination scenarios.

• Some common causes of contract disputes
• Sample clauses – what is ‘good’ drafting and what is ‘bad’?
• Getting the right starting point – your paperwork or mine?
• Boilerplate language – do we really need this stuff?
• Getting the most from your legal adviser