The terrible truth about lawyers : how lawyers really work and how to deal with them successfully by McCormack Mark H

Author:McCormack, Mark H
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Attorney and client, Businesspeople
Publisher: New York : Beech Tree Books
Published: 1987-07-25T16:00:00+00:00

hopes and fears, vanities and insecurities, needs for reassurance and the possibihty of escape.

A well-thought-out contract should address all of those facets of what makes people tick.

Let me illustrate this by describing a contract provision that has proved so useful over the years that we have given it an unofficial name: the "Australian Termination Clause."

This clause was bom during a negotiation we were handling on behalf of Jack Nicklaus, with Slazenger of Australia. All the major deal points had been hashed over and agreed to—with the exception of those clauses setting forth the term of the contract, circumstances under which the agreement might be ended, and the amount of notice required for its termination.

These were sticky issues because Slazenger was gambling on a new hne of products to be released under the Nicklaus name. The company was throwing a lot of money into the launch, and it was paying Jack very sizable guarantees.

If, for any reason, the new products didn't fly, Slazenger didn't want to be locked into paying the annuities on top of other losses it might possibly sustain.

Our position in the negotiation was the opposite, and equally valid. Nicklaus was one of the most marketable names in all of sport. Why should he risk sudden termination of an income-producing deal if a sales campaign flopped through no fault of his? If the Slazenger arrangement fizzled, years might go by before another similar deal offered itself in the Australian market.

How could these two positions be reconciled?

Our solution was a clause that stated that the agreement could be terminated by either party at any time but on five years' notice.

This was acceptable to Slazenger because it put a cap on the company's hability; in exchange for the option to call it quits, Slazenger was willing to commit to five years in guarantees, during which period it would most likely have inventory to dispose of anyway.

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