I recall being in an intense contract negotiation of a critical outsourcing contract which as a result was heavily lawyered when a lawyer on the opposite side suddenly stopped and said:
"My goodness, we are actually discussing a real legal issue."
He had a point. Much of the time in these situations the law, or another relevant professional discipline like finance, is just a background panoply to clear expression of technical and operational content. The law is very important but its application dependent on accurate expression in a contract schedule and then agreement round the negotiation table.
This in turn means that much of the professional lawyer or contract manager's time is taken up with organisation and management of documents ensuring the correct input, review and dissemination for comments and then discussion. This can be complex and time consuming with large teams on each side and literally hundreds of pages of documents.
And it is this role which requires a skill set not always recognised or valued by professionals other than project managers. A major negotiation needs to be project managed so the legal, financial, technical, operational and other input can be properly articulated, incorporated and agreed.
Whilst supplementary to legal knowledge and negotiation skill, without organisation and working to a basic plan much of the "pure" technical input may not be very effective.
And whilst lawyers and other professionals are often quite good at this project management we perhaps do not make enough of this skill set and either develop or sell it enough. I suggest that all professionals should have some project management training and use the many planning tools that are out there to build on the ability we have often developed in practice to provide a better more valued service to our clients.
"My goodness, we are actually discussing a real legal issue."
He had a point. Much of the time in these situations the law, or another relevant professional discipline like finance, is just a background panoply to clear expression of technical and operational content. The law is very important but its application dependent on accurate expression in a contract schedule and then agreement round the negotiation table.
This in turn means that much of the professional lawyer or contract manager's time is taken up with organisation and management of documents ensuring the correct input, review and dissemination for comments and then discussion. This can be complex and time consuming with large teams on each side and literally hundreds of pages of documents.
And it is this role which requires a skill set not always recognised or valued by professionals other than project managers. A major negotiation needs to be project managed so the legal, financial, technical, operational and other input can be properly articulated, incorporated and agreed.
Whilst supplementary to legal knowledge and negotiation skill, without organisation and working to a basic plan much of the "pure" technical input may not be very effective.
And whilst lawyers and other professionals are often quite good at this project management we perhaps do not make enough of this skill set and either develop or sell it enough. I suggest that all professionals should have some project management training and use the many planning tools that are out there to build on the ability we have often developed in practice to provide a better more valued service to our clients.
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