The term ‘Contract management’ will mean one thing to your organisation and something slightly different to you as in-house lawyer. Unfortunately, you need to understand both meanings to fulfil your role within your organisation.

To your organisation, contract management means the process of procuring Goods or services, starting with the definition of needs and the selection of the right supplier, continuing into the nitty gritty of commercial negotiation and on to documentation. For some organisations, the lengthy task of drafting and agreeing the documents can be something of an after-thought to be delegated to the lawyer.

Then, of course, once the deal is done and the documents have been signed, the intricacies of administering the contract and ensuring proper performance and compliance begin. Again, these tasks can be given a low importance until things start to go wrong and the legal team is called on to do something to help.

As in-house lawyer, you will need to be involved to a greater or lesser extent in all the steps your organisation takes in its contract management