This week I was speaking to an experienced lawyer on the subject of clients asking for solutions to seemingly impossible intractable legal issues.
How, for example, to terminate a contract when there are no rights to do so or to claimer a loss when the contract concerned seems to exclude the ability to do so.
As a first reaction the immediate answer is "sorry thanks for asking but there is no way to do this". However before going back and reducing your client's faith in your abilities as some kind of miracle worker it is always worth stopping and trying to look at the problem in a different way.
I hate the expression "thinking out of the box" but in this situation that is exactly what is called for. Instead of reading just the clauses that are obviously applicable look at the rest of the contract. Sometimes the boilerplate clauses and detailed schedules can contain surprisingly helpful provisions if looked at in the right way.
And maybe just maybe the parties have ceased to work under the contract at all and have created some collateral way of operating that isn't governed by the contract or have by their conduct or some unintended exchange of emails changed the contract.
So before throwing in the towel as a professional it's always worth seeing if there is a way of looking at the problem from a different angle or perspective and coming up with a creative solution which provides at least a reasonable argument that may enable a negotiated resolution from a position of strength rather than apparent weakness.
How, for example, to terminate a contract when there are no rights to do so or to claimer a loss when the contract concerned seems to exclude the ability to do so.
As a first reaction the immediate answer is "sorry thanks for asking but there is no way to do this". However before going back and reducing your client's faith in your abilities as some kind of miracle worker it is always worth stopping and trying to look at the problem in a different way.
I hate the expression "thinking out of the box" but in this situation that is exactly what is called for. Instead of reading just the clauses that are obviously applicable look at the rest of the contract. Sometimes the boilerplate clauses and detailed schedules can contain surprisingly helpful provisions if looked at in the right way.
And maybe just maybe the parties have ceased to work under the contract at all and have created some collateral way of operating that isn't governed by the contract or have by their conduct or some unintended exchange of emails changed the contract.
So before throwing in the towel as a professional it's always worth seeing if there is a way of looking at the problem from a different angle or perspective and coming up with a creative solution which provides at least a reasonable argument that may enable a negotiated resolution from a position of strength rather than apparent weakness.
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