Following the best contract management practices helps you manage contracts and clients and accommodate their needs to draft fool-proof agreements. Here are some best practices to consider:
8 Ways to Effectively Manage Contracts
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Create Standardized Agreements
Making templates or drafts of various contracts can help you save time drafting the actual one. These templates can be edited to better accommodate the requirements of clients. They act as a base for the agreement between clients and can also be shown to them as what they should expect in the actual one.
It also helps you keep a tab on all the things that should be included within the contract and enables you to ensure that you don’t miss out on any vital details. In addition, standardized agreements must be edited from time to time to incorporate the latest government rules and regulations to ensure that there are no legal loopholes within them.
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Track Contracts Which Are in Progress
After many ongoing projects, it may become a bit difficult to keep a tab on all the ongoing contracts. A proper contract management process can help you keep track of every contract. It enables you to follow up with your clients for the contract signing and the following steps to be taken.
Automation of approvals is also possible. One of the best ways to achieve this is by managing a calendar and updating it with all the details for specific days, such as “follow up with client A for approval of draft on X date”.
Tracking your contracts in progress and following up with your clients timely helps you get a better chance of landing the client to sign the contract. Thus, becoming a billable client. In the longer run, this practice will help you sort through various things you have to do and help you create a daily to-do list.
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System of Storing Contracts
It is challenging to keep all the contracts and documents handy and arranged. This can create a mess and havoc when you urgently need to access any contract. Thus, you must have a proper system for storing your contracts. One of the best ways to keep contracts is by separating folders year-wise.
All the contracts drafted in particular folders must be further arranged in alphabetical order as per the name of the client. This shall help you to search your contracts faster. Segregating them year-wise also enables you to understand the time for contract renewal.
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Help Get Your Client Justice
Most people often sign contracts and simply forget about them unless there are some significant complications. If you are able to keep track of whether or not they fulfill the terms of the contract, you will also be able to understand when the other party breaks any clauses. When you inform your client about the same, your client shall highly feel obliged to have you as the lawyer.
This helps build trust and long-term relationships with your client. When it comes to giant corporations, there are many active contracts at one time. When the legal team keeps track of these contracts and informs the company of any term being broken by them or the other party, they are appreciated.
This is one of the many benefits of having a legal team within the company. However, it is also essential for you to prove your work which can be achieved by practicing contract management better.
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Strategizing Risk Management
Monitoring the contracts closely helps you keep a tab and remember all your clients and active contracts. If any government policies change, you might need to update the contracts with relevant changes to ensure that they align with the new changes. This helps you manage the risk of outdated contracts that might become a problem for your client in the long run.
Risk management can help your client save a lot of money, which helps build trust and a healthy relationship. Missing out on even the slightest detail can put your client in more significant trouble.
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Communication With Fellow Lawyers
This is important, especially when you are working with a full-fledged legal team within an organization. Since there are many active contracts, it is important to have a system that is easy to understand and accessible to any lawyer within the company. This helps in better communication and time management.
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Resolve Disputes Faster
In case there is a breach of contract in either of your clients’ agreements, solving them at the earliest is your priority. Keeping agreements handy or defined systems that can help you quickly access the contracts can help you understand the case faster. It helps you save time that you would have otherwise invested in simply looking for the signed contract. When you help resolve your client’s disputes more quickly, you get time to work on other projects.
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Conduct Regular Checks
Having a system check the active contracts at regular intervals can completely change contract management. It shall help you keep yourself updated with the contracts and keep a tab on their tenure and check for renewal policies. Based on this, you can also update or remind your client for renewal.
Key Terms
- Contract: A contract is a document that is signed between parties that states the terms and conditions of their alliance.
- Contract Renewal: It refers to signing a similar contract between the same parties after the tenure of their first contract is over.
Conclusion
If you are interested in making it easy to search through your contracts, LawInsider’s contract repository makes it easy for you to upload your documents and find the hidden contracts among them. From 100 to 100,000 contracts, there are no limits and no hidden fees for the amount of documents that you can organize. With secure access and encryption for all files, you can be sure that your contracts stay safe and private.
References:
- https://ironcladapp.com/journal/contract-management/6-contract-management-best-practices/
- https://procurementmag.com/risk-management/top-10-contract-management-best-practices
- https://www.ecosys.net/blog/13-best-practices-for-contract-management/
- https://www.sirionlabs.com/blog/contract-management-best-practices/
- https://www.cobblestonesoftware.com/blog/a-concise-contract-management-best-practice-guide