Vendor Contracting

VENDOR CONTRACTING

No matter the type of business or the industry of the business, working with vendors is part of all commercial relations. There are many reasons why vendors are needed, as there are many reasons why an entity would need to acquire goods or services from an outside party. Most vendors have their own standard contracts, with terms usually tailored to the vendors favor and replete with fine print that can be problematic if not negotiated in the procurement process. Jimerson Birr’s attorneys work with clients of all industries to negotiate and document vendor contracts to ensure that the expectations and obligations of both parties are clearly defined, with the procuring client receiving the product or service they purchased under terms as favorable as commercially possible. 

Risk Management Through Issue Spotting and Negotiation

There are too many bad things that can happen to a business that doesn’t use lawyers in reviewing important contracts to list them all, but some of the key motivations should be obvious. First, engaging Jimerson Birr to review, negotiate and finalize vendor contracts can ensure your entity is apprised of legal risks and issues associated with the contract. While a contract might seem simple and straightforward at a quick glance, Jimerson Birr lawyers are able to efficiently identify any legal risks and issues that may be contained within the contract and remedy any unwanted risk the contract proposes. Our lawyers have many years and many representative experiences to draw upon in interpreting the commercial reasonableness of contractual provisions under the law. Our experienced lawyers can tell you what looks normal in a contract, and what particular clauses require additional vendor negotiations. Our team is well-trained in identifying and advising clients on any key legal risks and issues in a contract; whether it be something that’s missing from the contract or something that shouldn’t be there at all. 

Getting the Deal You Deserve

Second, our lawyers are able to advise as to how certain provisions of a vendor contract interact with other operational aspects of your entity, how those provision would implicate future operations of your entity as it moves forward, and how that contract measures up to deals similarly situated clients in the industry are getting. Beyond just advising you of the risks associated with a contract, our lawyers help our clients understand what a contract means for their business in the future, and how it stacks up when compared to deals procured by their peers or competition. An attorney review of your vendor contracts can offer a fresh legal perspective and provide you with advice of current customs and practices in your industry relating to vendor contracts. Signing a contract binds your business to certain rights and obligations, and it is important to make sure you are getting a good deal with peace of mind that the terms are the best you can get in the market. Our lawyers also work to make sure that the vendor relationship starts out on the right foot. Many times, especially with complex agreements, constant back and forths occur when negotiating the terms of a contract. With this, sometimes emotions come into play that have the potential to hurt the business relationship of the parties. Having a Jimerson Birr lawyer come in to take the steering wheel can facilitate the relationship building process by keeping emotions out of the negotiations and focus purely on getting the right deal in place without creating avoidable acrimony. 

Avoid Expensive Mistakes Through Full-Service Representation

Third, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. The cost of foregoing attorney review of your vendor contracts can be astronomical in comparison to what it costs to litigate a vendor contract that does not have favorably negotiated terms. Jimerson Birr lawyers utilize their litigation experiences to identify how clients might run into trouble down the road and assist clients in negotiating troublesome terms or planning to avoid the pitfalls on the front end of the vendor procurement and contracting process. When hiring Jimerson Birr lawyers to perform a vendor contract review, clients purchase years of experience, skill, and training to provide value-add counsel. This results-oriented method of vendor contract representation helps our clients to ensure they get the best deal possible in their contract, and more importantly, avoid getting stuck with an agreement they cannot live with. 

Jimerson Birr attorneys works with our clients to ensure all of their vendor contracts have, among other things, clearly depicted and preferential mutual performance expectations, vendor responsibilities or scopes with performance measures or benchmarks, insurance and indemnification requirements, preferential dispute resolution mechanisms, pricing and payment terms and methods, timing of term or duration of vendor performance, contract amendment or default protocols, representations and warranties, intellectual property rights, assignability or subcontracting rights, and change in control provisions. 

Jimerson Birr is a premier law firm with a market-leading vendor contracting practice that is tailored to the nuances of the industries we serve. Our teams have a global perspective and strong Florida roots. Our clients look to us to bring a distinctively high degree of quality, passion and creativity to resolve vendor contracting challenges effectively and cost efficiently. 

We’re honored to work with some of the world’s most accomplished organizations and the leaders who drive them. We know that on any given day our clients are confronting competition, corporate advancement, risk management, process and product innovation, resource allocation, efficiency stewardship and talent oversight problems; some days all the above. When our clients place vendor contracting matters with us, they enlist sets of broad shoulders that carry their burdens for them so that they no longer feel their weight. This deep business partnership will give us both an opportunity to be at our best. 

We draw on the strength of our character and talents to deliver the best of our firm to every client through true collaboration. We don’t confuse effort with results, and we focus on the immutable, allied goals at all times. Partnership with Jimerson Birr on vendor contracting matters means that you are not looking in any direction but ahead.