The agreements that carry the business

Every dollar your company makes or spends runs through a contract. Most of them are fine. A few of them have a term that will cost you real money two years from now, and the job is knowing which is which without slowing down the deal. In my last in-house role I closed more than 400 agreements in a single year, the highest volume in the department, and the deals still closed.

What it covers

• Customer agreements. Master services agreements, SaaS and subscription terms, statements of work, order forms, and the negotiation against the customer’s paper when they insist on it.

• Supply and distribution. Supply, distribution, consignment, rebate, toll manufacturing, and logistics agreements. I have negotiated these with counterparties including ExxonMobil, Honda, SABIC, DuPont, and Clorox.

• Vendor and technology. Software licenses, professional services, API and integration agreements, and the data, security, and IP terms inside them.

• Confidentiality and partnerships. NDAs, teaming and strategic partner agreements, and referral arrangements.

• The terms that matter. Limitation of liability, indemnification, warranty, termination, pricing and escalation, exclusivity, and IP ownership. These move the money; the rest is formatting.

• Templates and playbooks. Your own forms, with fallback positions your team can use without calling me. The routine agreements stop coming to me and the hard ones get real attention.

Who this is for

Companies whose contracts are negotiated by sales, operations, or the CEO because there is no one else, and companies whose one in-house lawyer cannot get through the queue.

How it works

Flat fees for standard reviews, so you know the cost before you send it. Hourly or monthly for negotiations and ongoing volume. Turnaround is measured in days, not weeks, because a contract sitting with the lawyer is a deal sitting with the lawyer.