A Smarter, Safer Way to Manage Contracts

Legal risk rarely arrives with flashing warning signs.

More often, it builds quietly over time:

• Slightly different wording in similar contracts

• Negotiations handled under pressure

• Decisions made quickly, then forgotten

Before long, no one is quite sure which risks the business has accepted or why.

The real problem: inconsistency

Most SMEs don’t lack legal advice. They lack consistency.

When contracts are dealt with reactively, each one becomes its own mini-project:

• New conversations

• Repeated explanations

• Slightly different risk positions

That approach costs time, drives up legal spend, and increases exposure, even

when everyone is acting with good intentions.

Why a proactive framework changes everything

This is where a Contracts Playbook comes in.

Instead of responding to contracts as they land, the Playbook sets the direction in

advance:

• What risks the business is prepared to accept

• Where flexibility is commercially sensible

• Where firm boundaries are needed

With that clarity in place, contracts are reviewed against an agreed framework rather

than reinvented from scratch.

The result is:

• Faster, more focused reviews

• More predictable costs

• Greater confidence in negotiations

Not because risk is ignored, but because it’s managed deliberately.

Why this only works with commercial judgement

A Contracts Playbook is only as good as the thinking behind it. Over-lawyer it, and it

becomes unusable. Over-simplify it, and it creates risk.

At Lawpoint, the Playbook is built by a rounded commercial lawyer - someone who

understands not just what the law allows, but how businesses actually operate day to

day.

That means:

• Balancing legal protection with commercial reality

• Creating positions that work in live negotiations

• Accepting that “perfect” contracts are rarely practical

This blend of law and real-world judgement is what turns a Playbook into something

businesses actually use, not something that sits untouched on a shared drive.

Bespoke, not boilerplate

No two businesses have the same:

• Risk appetite

• Growth pressures

• Customer or supplier dynamics

  
  

That’s why a Lawpoint Contracts Playbook is always bespoke. It reflects how your

business works, not a generic set of precedents.

It becomes a practical reference point for:

• Internal teams

• External negotiations

• Ongoing legal support

A quieter, more effective way to reduce risk

The Contracts Playbook isn’t about removing legal input or cutting corners.

It’s about making legal advice:

• More consistent

• More efficient

• More aligned with commercial objectives

For SMEs with recurring contract needs, it’s often the shift that takes contracts from

being a recurring frustration… to a controlled, confident process.

Not a hard sell.

Just a better way of working.

If contracts regularly cross your desk and the same issues, negotiations, and

questions keep resurfacing, it’s usually a sign that the business has outgrown ad-hoc

legal support.

Final thought

At that stage, the value isn’t in reviewing more contracts. It’s in stepping back and

agreeing on how contracts should be handled as a whole. For many SMEs, a

Contracts Playbook becomes that turning point - providing clarity, consistency and

confidence, while allowing the business to keep moving at pace. It’s not about

changing how you do business. It’s about making sure your contracts are working

just as hard as you are.

If you would like to find out more about our Contracts Playbook, contact Tracey today.