Earning Trust in Contract Negotiations
Dennis Garcia, an assistant attorney general of Microsoft Corp., offers a collection of best practices that all lawyers can embrace to help earn trust during the contract lifecycle.
“In our rapidly changing and highly competitive legal and business environments, earning trust is more important than ever—especially during contract negotiations as that may be the first opportunity for parties to work with each other,” Garcia writes for Bloomberg Law.
He discusses several practices under the headings: actively learn about the other party, be empathetic, provide thoughtful rationales on contract issues, meet face-to-face, embrace smart risk-taking, don’t over-lawyer, little things mean a lot, small and empowered negotiating teams, always keep your cool, and post-contract signing.