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Erschienen in:
Introduction: “Run Legal as a Business!” Kapitel lesen Erstes Kapitel lesen

2017 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

Business-Friendly Contracting: How Simplification and Visualization Can Help Bring It to Practice

verfasst von : Helena Haapio, Thomas D. Barton

Erschienen in: Liquid Legal

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

One thesis of this book is that the legal function within businesses will shift from a paradigm of security to one of opportunity. This chapter embraces that likelihood in the context of business contracting, where voices calling for a major shift are starting to surface. It explores how contracts can be used to reach better outcomes and relationships, not just safer ones. It introduces the concept of business-friendly contracting, highlighting the need for contracts to be seen as business tools rather than exclusively as legal tools, and working as business enablers rather than obstacles. By changing the design of contracts and the ways in which those contracts are communicated—through simplification and visualization, for example—legal and business operations can be better integrated. Contracts can then be more useful to business, and contract provisions can actually become more secure by becoming easier to negotiate and implement.

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Vorheriges Kapitel Building a Legal Department in a Metrics-Driven World: A Guide to Finding the Best Candidates for the Legal Departments of the Future
Nächstes Kapitel Running the Legal Department with Business Discipline: Applying Business Best Practices to the Corporate Legal Function
Fußnoten
1
The most recent Top Negotiated Terms 2015 survey was undertaken by IACCM during May–August 2015, with replies representing more than 10,000 negotiators based in over 100 countries. The respondents reflect primarily large organizations, mostly doing business internationally (IACCM 2015b, pp. 6, 9).
 
2
This statistic, and others in IACCM (2015a), is drawn from IACCM research with its global, cross-industry membership, representing more than 12,000 organizations. See IACCM (2015a), p. 4.
 
3
According to Deepak Malhotra, in the process, many key decisions have been left to the lawyers, even in areas where business managers and subject matter experts could (and should) have made an important contribution; the latter, according to Malhotra, are in a much stronger position to negotiate better outcomes and relationships, not just safer ones. See Malhotra (2012), pp. 363–364. Emphasis added.
 
4
For a general overview and elaboration of preventive and problem solving methods, see Barton (2009).
 
5
For the background of Preventive Law and Proactive Law, see Haapio (2008, 2013a, 2013b) and Berger-Walliser and Østergaard (2012).
 
6
The first publication mentioning the proactive approach was “Quality Improvement through Proactive Contracting” by Haapio (1998). Since then, a growing body of literature, conferences, and books has contributed to the further development of the approach. The early experiments led to the formation of the Nordic School of Proactive Law, http://​www.​proactivelaw.​org and of the Proactive ThinkTank, www.​proactivethinkta​nk.​com. The mission of the ThinkTank is to provide a forum for business leaders, lawyers, academics and other professionals to discuss, develop and promote the proactive management of relationships, contracts and risks and the prevention of legal uncertainties and disputes. (See ProActive ThinkTank mission statement 2007). The Nordic School’s and ProActive ThinkTank’s conferences have led to the publication of several books, including Wahlgren (2006); Nystén-Haarala (2008); Haapio (2008) and Berger-Walliser and Østergaard (2012). Collaboration between participants in the Nordic School, the ProActive ThinkTank, and legal scholars in the United States has enriched the proactive approach and expanded its reach. These undertakings have explored the use of the law for competitive advantage and the interaction between law and strategy; see, e.g. Siedel and Haapio (2010, 2011) and DiMatteo et al. (2012). For the history of the Proactive Law movement, see also Berger-Walliser (2012), with references.
 
7
Also used in the form “proactive=preventive plus promotive”.
 
8
What is needed, according to Berger-Walliser (2012), are case studies, identification of best practices, and more distinctive methods and tools to turn Proactive Law into practice. According to Thomas D. Barton (2008, pp. 41–42), when contracts lawyers envision a potential problem, they tend to revert to the dominant legal paradigm in their analysis: “the lawyerly imagination looks backward rather than forward, in order to prevail in the courtroom […] they rearrange the present contract language so as to be able to win that legal contest. […] What is needed instead is a mentality toward preempting the problem from arising—reducing the client’s risk even while being proactive toward achieving the client’s goals.” See also DiMatteo et al. (2012), p. 106.
 
9
Similarly, EESC (2009), p. 32 (§ 6.11): “The life cycle of a piece of legislation does not begin with the drafting of a proposal or end when it has been formally adopted. A piece of legislation is not the goal; its successful implementation is.”
 
10
Recent research in both private and public procurement confirms that for many SMEs, contracts are overly legalistic and difficult to work with. See, e.g., Patajoki (2013) and Haapio (2013a).
 
11
Simple, for the purposes of this chapter, means not complex or complicated. By simplification we mean making contracts less complex or complicated—they may still not become simple.
 
12
See generally the movement toward using design methods and tools in legal context, e.g., Margaret Hagan, http://​www.​margarethagan.​com (Accessed September 26, 2016) and Szabo (2010).
 
13
For an image of the three layers of Creative Commons licenses (“Legal Code,” “Human Readable,” and “Machine Readable”), see Creative Commons (2015).
 
14
For an icon summarizing the dimensions and choices of licenses, see http://​wisesearch.​weebly.​com/​uploads/​1/​1/​3/​6/​11361394/​1762233_​orig.​gif (Accessed September 26, 2016).
 
15
No relation to this Chapter’s co-author of the same surname.
 
16
For examples of the published results of this work, see the web pages of M!ND research group, http://​www.​mindspace.​fi/​en/​contract-visu/​ and Why contracts need visualization? http://​www.​mindspace.​fi/​en/​english-why-contracts-need-visualization/​
 
Literatur
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Metadaten
Titel
Business-Friendly Contracting: How Simplification and Visualization Can Help Bring It to Practice
verfasst von
Helena Haapio
Thomas D. Barton
Copyright-Jahr
2017
Buch
Liquid Legal

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-45867-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-45868-7

Copyright-Jahr: 2017

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45868-7_24