Negotiate

A vendor comes to you demanding payment for services--services you, as the business stakeholder, aren't convinced the vendor has truly provided. What next?

Most businesses try to resolve these disputes--often small disputes--on their own, through corporate negotiations and "niceties."

Unfortunately, that doesn't always work.

Most businesses want to avoid paying an attorney to handle a dispute like this--because it is small compared to potential legal fees.

But, a litigator can efficiently analyze the situation (the contract and the facts), draft a demand letter, and typically resolve the dispute short of litigation--but with an eye on litigation, preserving your claims and defenses each step of the way.

I'll note that your contracts or transactional counsel can take a crack at this, but their view of the relationship and agreement is different than a litigator's view.

Why? Because transactional attorneys focus on establishing the relationship.

A litigator, like me, focuses on maintaining or smoothly transitioning out of the relationship, with an eye toward preserving claims and defenses, and resolving the dispute as efficiently as possible.

Here's an example:

A vendor sent a business an invoice associated with certain services the vendor claimed to provide.

Upon further review, it was clear the vendor was in fact not providing those services.

When the business's attempts to negotiate a discount or full stop on the payments failed, I stepped in.

I reviewed the facts--and the communications between the client and the vendor, which contained some admissions by the vendor (like a recognition that the business had not been using the services associated with the invoice).

So, we drafted a demand letter, explaining the history of the relationship, pointing out gaps in the facts and all relevant contractual provisions, and offered a resolution.

Sometimes the resolution is a settlement offer.

Sometimes the resolution is renegotiating the contract and continuing services.

Sometimes the resolution is proposing a walk away.

Every time the resolution is proposed in exchange for avoiding litigation (and/or getting more attorneys involved).

For better or worse, getting an attorney to push your position is often the straw that breaks the other party and brings them to the negotiation table--not always, but more often than not.

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