A Short Guide to Contract Risk

Savvy managers no longer look at contracting processes and documents reactively but use them proactively to reach their business goals and minimize their risks. To succeed, these managers need a framework and A Short Guide to Contract Risk provides this. The foundation of identifying and managing contract risk is what the authors call Contract Literacy: a set of skills relevant for all who deal with contracts in their everyday business environment, ranging from general managers and CEOs to sales, procurement and project professionals and risk managers. Contracts play a major role in business success. Contracts govern companies' deals and relationships with their suppliers and customers. They impact future rights, cash flows, costs, earnings, and risks. A company's contract portfolio may be subject to greater losses than anyone realizes. Still the greatest risk in business is not taking any risks. Equipped with the concepts described in this book, business and risk managers can start to see contracts differently and to use them to find and achieve the right balance for business success and problem prevention. What makes this short guide from the authors of the acclaimed Proactive Law for Managers especially valuable, if not unique, is its down-to-earth managerial/legal approach. Using lean contracting, visualization and the tools introduced in this book, managers and lawyers can achieve legally sound contracts that function as managerial tools for well thought-out, realistic risk allocation in business deals and relationships.

Helena Haapio works as International Contract Counsel for Lexpert Ltd. Completing legal studies in Finland, and at Cambridge University, Haapio served for several years as in-house Counsel in Europe and the USA. She has designed and conducted training workshops around the world, acts as arbitrator in cross-border contract disputes and undertakes multi-disciplinary research on ways to enhance contract usability and communication. George J. Siedel is Williamson Family Professor of Business Administration and Thurnau Professor of Business Law at the University of Michigan. He has served as a Visiting Professor at Stanford, Harvard and the University of Sydney. After legal studies at the University of Michigan and Cambridge University, Siedel worked in a professional corporation as a corporate attorney. Haapio and Siedel are the award-winning authors of Proactive Law for Managers. They are active members of professional bodies including the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management.