Blog

It’s not that simple

Simplifying contracts is not just a matter of taking each clause and making it plainer language. We really need to understand the precise jargon used and whether it is even appropriate for this type of contract. Time is an essential condition Back in 2015, when I started to revise the

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Seamless agreements

Simplifying contracts is not just a matter of taking each clause and making it plainer language. Our task is also to ensure all the contracting documents fit together neatly. Our goal is seamless sales… from start to finish! Coffee on the go We were asked to help a coffee business

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Build strong relationships

As you may know, I am a bit of a contract nerd and love to learn from those at the cutting edge of new ways of thinking about contracts and contracting. At a Law Insider webinar, Electra Japonas, the co-founder of the crowd-sourced OneNDA, said that contracts are there to facilitate

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Contracts as sales assets

The purpose of your contracts is to help you do business. Another way of thinking of this based on success – as Jacqueline Horani said at the World Commerce and Contracting Vibe Summit 2023, contracts are tools to help ‘both sides of the agreement to achieve and fulfil their goals.’

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Make it easy to comply

Have you ever asked directions from a stranger, only to find that you forgot the very first item by the end of their explanation? Have you ever asked someone to give you a recipe, and then wish you’d written it down? Some things are better kept simple and broken into

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Be positive

I love the island of Guernsey… but when I first visited I saw notices everywhere telling you what you can and cannot do – don’t sit on a wall in case you fall off, don’t throw stones on the beach, don’t park here, don’t walk along the seawall when there

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Really commit to customers

Although it is a book primarily about building a business, Rework (by Fried and Heinemeier Hansson,  the founders of 37 Signals), has some tips which are equally applicable to doing deals. Focus on diving in When starting a business relationship, they say: Your priorities are out of whack if you’re thinking about getting

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MVP for legals?

When I first started as a construction lawyer, my boss (Alison) was attempting to introduce two types of model documents for construction projects – the Rolls Royce (the best version) and the Morris Minor (a stripped back version). Perhaps not great names, but the idea was that a simpler document

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10 nasties to avoid to simplify your deals

Deals will be simpler to agree if the buyer doesn’t rely on their commercial power – they hold the purse strings – to create one-sided agreement terms. Here are my top 10 nasties to avoid: One-sided flexibility: Wide rights for the buyer to end the contract at any time for any

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Dealing with unexpected

Once you’ve signed your deal, how easy is it to change? The unexpected has a nasty way of cropping up, so apart from instant one-off transactions, your contracts, agreements and T&C need to include a clear mechanism allowing the buyer and seller to tweak the details. But what if it

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