Contract Design and Simplification – is this now a must-do?

Abstract

Is the pendulum shifting? In a fast, technology-driven world, business stakeholders are keen to move away from dense walls of text in contracts. Increasingly, they understand that contracts are a valuable tool for communication and doing business. They are literally the lifeblood of industry and wider society! So why has it taken so long to rethink contracts when the world around us has changed at pace? Is there still a problem? The answer is a resounding “Yes”! An analysis of more than 7,000 signed contracts undertaken by World Commerce & Contracting published in the 2018 Most Negotiated Terms report showed that 56% were based on the wrong template as a starting point. 88% of business users revealed that they find contracts “difficult or impossible to understand.”

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