In the descriptions of my legal services in connection with business formations and contract negotiation, writing, and reviewing, I note how important it is for people not only to have written agreements in their business relationships, but also to have clear and thorough written agreements. And, I mention how much of my work is involved in working with clients who find themselves in disputes because their business relationships are not backed up by such written agreements.
I have found over the years that neither my clients facing such disputes, nor their adversaries, are “evil” people; rather both sides now have misunderstandings which could have been headed off by well written agreements put into place at the time they started their business or contract relationship.
Now, when the dispute arises, the cost of trying to resolve it is many times the cost of writing a clear and thorough agreement in the first place. For at this later point questions arise as to
what the disputing parties appear to have intended regarding each party’s rights and obligations in their relationship, or
what the legal rules say MUST govern each party’s rights and obligations since there is no written agreement to review or the written agreement is unclear.
Costly efforts are made, by sworn testimony of the parties or others, to establish such intentions, or attorneys spend a lot of time preparing written arguments on the dictates of the legal rules that may apply.
As for all legal disputes, I prepare my client’s best positions in preparation for presentation to a court or a privately hired judge (an arbitrator), but I never lose sight of the possibility of trying to negotiate a creative settlement of the dispute, applying a cost-benefit analysis of my client continuing in the dispute rather than settling it early, and looking toward possible “win-win” or at least not drastic “lose-win” solutions so both sides can end the dispute as inexpensively as possible.