A certain tension exists between Sales and Legal. Sales tries to get deals inked as quickly as possible, and Legal slows this process as they mitigate risks in contract documents.
They have the same goal - just different priorities.
Below are two things Sales can do to get deals inked faster and have a better relationship with Legal.
GIVE INFORMATION UP-FRONT
So much of the contract review time is spent gathering:
Counterparty name(s)
Purpose and scope of contract (i.e. what is being bought/sold/contracted)
Value of the contract
What data is being handled/disclosed, if any
Whether funding has been approved
The real deadline (not the ideal deadline from Sales)
The name and email counterparty contact
Providing this information up-front in the initial contract review request speeds up the review and scores major brownie-points with your attorney.
RESPECT COMPETING PRIORITIES
There is ALWAYS work in the attorney's hands that competes with your project for priority (including the attorney's personal life).
Because the attorney is the ONLY person in the organization who knows everything they're working on, only they know the true priority for each task.
It does you no favors to hound the attorney for updates, go over their head, or drop a 20+ page contract in their lap late on an afternoon for review "by end of day".
If you respect that the attorney is working on other tasks just as (and more important) as yours, they attorney is more likely to respect the urgency of your tasks.
Want a Legal team that works with your Sales, Marketing, and Procurement teams to quickly secure best-in-class deals on best-in-class terms? Contact Out-House Attorneys to learn more about our Contract Overflow Support service.
The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. This website contains links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser.