Casey Handy-Smith’s Post

🔍 Demystifying Contract Structure: Exploring Essential Components 📝 Ever puzzled over the anatomy of a contract? Let's unravel its intricacies together! 🚀 1. Title: The contract's name, providing a concise summary of its purpose and scope. 2. Place and Date of Execution: Identifies where and when the contract is signed, establishing its legal validity. 3. Parties to the Contract: Clearly states the individuals or entities involved, delineating their roles and responsibilities. 4. Recitals:    - Operative Clauses: Outlines the primary intentions and objectives of the agreement.   - Boilerplate Clauses: Standard provisions covering legalities such as jurisdiction, amendments, and confidentiality. 5. Definitions: Clarifies specific terms and phrases used throughout the contract to avoid misunderstandings. 6. Effective Date/Commencement of Agreement: Marks the beginning of the contract's enforcement and implementation. 7. Scope of Service: Clearly defines the products, services, or obligations to be provided by each party. 8. Obligations of the Parties and Consideration: Spells out the duties and responsibilities of each party, along with the consideration exchanged for these obligations. 9. Term: Specifies the duration or period for which the contract remains in effect. 10. Termination and Consequences of Termination: Outlines the conditions and consequences if either party decides to end the contract prematurely. 11. Representations and Warranties: Statements made by each party regarding certain facts or conditions, ensuring the validity and accuracy of the agreement. 12. Amount and Method of Payment: Details the financial aspects, including the agreed-upon payment amount, schedule, and method. Understanding these components is paramount for navigating contractual agreements effectively. 💼💡 Let's empower ourselves with knowledge to negotiate confidently and safeguard our interests! Join the conversation below. #contracts #legalinsights #businesstips #negotiationskills #entrepreneurship #professionaldevelopment 🌟

Dear Entrepreneurs, Do not be in a haste to go into partnerships with another business owner. If you want to maintain a contractual /business relationship, then its better to go into long-term agreements (even on this, ensure there are termination/exit, and review clauses inputed), with your business and the other business(es) being referred to as INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS to the agreement. As independent contractors, all that binds parties to the agreement would be the prevailing obligations of the parties therein and the consideration for the execution of the agreement. Partnerships are not in itself bad, but the issue I have with them is the unforeseeable liabilities that will be saddled on an innocent business. It's a different situation if both businesses were birthed at the same time, and then they immediately go into a partnership. At this point, liabilities (if any) are minimal and assets can still be retained, but going into partnership with a business that has been existing before the birth of your business might have underlying liabilities that may be too burdensome for your growing business. However, if at all you want to go into partnership with such a business, ensure to carry out your DUE DILIGENCE on it. Furthermore, as independent contractors, you don't need to use the above phrase in the commencement clause, as parties can still be referred to as whatever role they play in the agreement e.g Buyer and Supplier, Manufacturer and Distributor etc., but in the body of the agreement, parties can establish their position in the agreement as nothing more than independent contractors to the agreement (A contract lawyer will understand this). In all of this, the position of legal guidance can not be overemphasised, and you should seek one before considering partnership or whatnot. Don't just be a business owner, but be a smart one. #businesstips #commerciallaw #commerciallawyer #corporatestyle

Law Firms are at a Business Development Tipping Point: Business development is about to get a lot harder. Or not. https://bit.ly/47KhAxM #TheMADClientist #LegalMarketing #lawpractice #legalexcellence

I’m a lawyer so my natural tendency is to read every agreement and to mark it up. I suggest that everyone read all of their contracts and don’t just leave it to your lawyer. There are business terms that you, as the business owner, are best able to address. Often small businesses are entering into contracts with much larger players. You can still negotiate the terms. I won’t sign anything that has terms I find will be detrimental in the long run. I always look at what happens in the worst-case scenario because unfortunately those scenarios sometimes happen. I’ve walked away from major opportunities because I did not want to bind my company to an onerous contract. If someone won’t take the time to try to make the contract mutually beneficial, then they don’t want to work with me enough. #contracts #legaltips #businessowner #femalefounders #startuplife

This week I want to discuss the challenge of managing product and service suppliers as a law firm owner. When you first start out, it seems like everyone is eager to sell you something. I will start with the positives - some providers I am working with are brilliant and care for me the same way I care for my clients, with quality service. Most came through referrals, but some are people I had followed and built trust in first as people.   I have been so careful about vetting who I work with because I want to collaborate with like-minded partners. Yet, I have been disappointed several times.   Sometimes it's only after you start collaborating with a company that you realise, they are primarily profit-focused, caring more about their own bottom line than providing quality service or loyalty to customers. You quickly recognise their focus is on money over relationships and you see hints of an exit strategy to sell to a larger corporation in the future.   It's tricky to navigate - you need to spend money to test and learn, and it's inevitable you will lose some along the way. But it still hurts when people don't deliver what you paid for or act poorly. Like with anything in business, it's a learning process about what works, what doesn't, and who you like to collaborate with. #ABECLegal #immigrationlawyer #lawfirmfounder #femalefounder

Michael Rynowecer and The BTI Consulting Group just released business development comments from a survey with 1,000 lawyers and law firm leaders. The query: Is business development getting harder or easier? One group believes it is - the other is confident it won't - mainly because business development is (monumentally) hard enough already! Those that Believe business development is hard note several issues: - More partners with less business development experience in their firm, or - [Their lawyers] don’t have the skills Those that are Confident it won't (can't?) get harder: - rely on proven strategies and skills - are always honing their skills and building the BD tool kit, and - [they] want to improve their skills I have found many times attorneys who struggle with business development do not have a strong background in BD, which is not unusual for professionals with so much time necessarily invested in their craft. Many have little support/training from their firm, and/or suffer from overwhelm looking at a blank screen (or legal pad?) wondering what to do and where to begin. I'd like to offer a bit of a lifeline with the list below. This comes from a coaching session I do: Introduction to Business Development, and lays out known and proven fundamentals for your business development. We spend time building these out more completely and, find those that present the least resistance to getting started. The 9 fundamentals: A valuable framework to build your business development - Client relationships - Generating and building a network of referrals and contacts - Writing and getting published - Speaking - Being active within sponsored organizations - Providing content - LinkedIn - Hosting or co-hosting targeted events - Where can you get your biggest return Take these 9 areas and make headers of each, or the ones in your wheelhouse, as you map out “How do I get started and where should I spend my time?” You should now have a decent business development matrix to guide your efficient and effective planning. Feel free to use this as a guide or a framework – much better than a blank screen or pad! As Michael shares in the survey "Every ounce of our research suggests BD is just going to get harder." The Fundamentals above have helped many an attorney get started. Just trying to make it a bit easier! #lawfirmmarketing #lawfirmgrowth #attorneymarketing #lawyercoach #legalbusiness https://lnkd.in/gp7_cqfQ

BD does not have to be hard or even get harder, provided you know what to do and how to do it. This is an interesting study, perhaps less on the percentages and more on the main reasons for each group: Lack of skills, more partners with less BD experience in the firm and losing rainmakers are 3 reasons given by the 53 % that think that BD is getting much harder. All of those 3 reasons are self-made,show a lack of entrepreneurial mindset and self-responsibility and can easily be overcome: 1) Successful BD can be learned. Everybody has the potential to be a great business developer ( my personal experience,my team has proved it and so do my coachees now). I have developed in my international/Big Law law firms about 45 BD tools and measures which have proved to be successful.Knowing them ( or at least some of them ) and how to apply them is not rocket science. It tackes intentionality, consistency,continuity and a certain degree of tenacity. And, of course the right business mindset is required. 2) If partners don’t have enough BD experience they have to get going and gain it. Success comes from doing , even in a trial and error or research and development mode, just trying out things. And otherwise everything at 1) above applies. 3) A firm / partnership without a BD culture that relies on a few rainmakers is doing so at its own peril in the first place. But such a situation can be remedied by developing the skills, mindset and confidence of all( or at least most ) partners who then become accomplished business developers, as is possible - see above. And in all cases: Help is available: Demand it and get it as training within your firms or invest in it on your own. Either way, look forward to a bright and successful BD future and realise your full potential!

It's far too easy for lawyers to get caught up in the work on their desks and miss the warning signs that doing their BD has become imperative. I’ve worked with law firms for 10 years on their BD strategies. There are a number of warning signs that tell me BD needs to move up your agenda and fast: 🚩 Maybe you're fully booked at the moment but haven’t thought about what happens when the work dries up. (Trust me, reaching that cliff edge is no fun.) 🚩 Or you have one massive client which is bringing in the big bucks, so everyone’s happy…but what happens if they decide to take their business elsewhere? 🚩 Maybe you’re getting out and about, but it’s not converting into paid work, and as a result, you feel busy but are still struggling to meet your targets. 🚩 And my personal favourite - you believe you’re either too senior or too junior, to be building a practice, making a name for yourself in your industry, cross-selling clients...the list goes on. The most successful lawyers I know: 🎯 have a healthy pipeline and never take their eye off where the work is coming from, irrespective of how much work is on their desk right now, 🎯 are alert to being reliant on a single source of income and take steps to bring in more work to mitigate the risks of losing a major client, 🎯continually re-assess their activities - they’re clear on what is generating ROI and don’t spend hours of their precious time at events where they know they’re not going to win work, and  🎯 are well aware that BD is something lawyers should be doing at EVERY level. (Partners in this camp are also usually the biggest billers in their firm.) Business development is so much more than a few lunches with clients - do it well, and it will future-proof your business. If you’re a lawyer and you’re struggling with any of these warning signs, drop me a DM. I have space to take on one client in May.

Practicality and the theory of contracts... Too often than not, hard to ascertain the importance of one over the other. By the importance of one, I do, in fact, mean that of practicality! For, which entrepreneur wants a bunch of contracts that they have to sift through? Take for example the base contract for many entrepreneurs: the service agreement. Whilst it may be prudent to customize a service agreement for each line of service of a client, but imagine the nightmare of a sales team having to decipher contracts to find the right one for the right client. Torture for all! Torture for the sales team, torture for the lawyer after. That's where practicality plays a role, and ye ole trusted Master Services Agreement comes into play. The 'ye ole MSA' has all your theoretical protections, but adds another layer! Statements of Work, or SOWs! These SOWs include the more specific details while including the terms of the 'ye ole MSA'. So, instead of having to continuously change a large document and include a deposit, or a retainer, or a monthly payment, or a fixed fee (you see what I'm doing here), only an SOW will need to be filed and changed! Do you have any examples of practicality vs. theory? What is a pain for you and how you resolved it? Comment below! I'd love your thoughts! #lawfirm #lawyer #contracts #commercial

Mastering the art of sales is the secret ingredient to entrepreneurial success. It starts with knowing your ideal client, and identifying your competition so that you can differentiate your product. @Medium published a great article about the art of sales here: https://lnkd.in/efzSrGXK These differences, and your USP (unique selling proposition), may also be part of your Intellectual Property. Do you have forms, images, or even ideas that are custom to your clients? If this is the case, we recommend adding one more piece to your sales strategy: a Client Evaluation Agreement. With this one-way nondisclosure agreement, you will protect your content and other confidential information as you explore potential new client and business relationships. Grab your DIY agreement now at: https://lnkd.in/ewZKgeZR © 2023 HTBiz Law. #EntrepreneurJourney #SalesStrategies #BusinessGrowth #intellectualproperty #sales #smallbusiness #HTBizLaw