In the Press: A Conversation with Robby Reggers (Nederlands)
Artikel Mr. Online
Op 15 oktober heeft mr-online (see (link) een interview met Robby Reggers gepubliceerd. Mr. is hét online platform voor juristen, dat ook en maandelijks tijdschrift uitbrengt. Mr. bericht over actuele zaken in de juridische wereld en belicht en becommentarieert deze vanuit een onafhankelijke positie. Mr. richt zich op alle in Nederland actieve juristen en WO-rechtenstudenten.
Onderwerpen van het Artikel
Het is fantastisch dat Robby de kans kreeg om meer te vertellen over zijn ervaringen in Zweden (en Scandinavië). In dit Interview vertelt Robby Reggers over de volgende onderwerpen:
- Terugkeer naar Nederland en plannen voor AMST Legal (naast een kantoor in Zweden nu ook op de ZuidAs in Amsterdam).
- Uitdagingen en kansen bij het opzetten van een eigen kantoor in Zweden.
- Cultuurverschillen tussen Zweden en Nederland.
- Grootste valkuilen bij onderhandelingen en hoe deze te vermijden.
- Tips voor juristen en advocaten die internationaal willen werken.
- Ervaringen met onderhandelen in andere culturen.
Overstapper van de week
Overstapper van de week is Robby Reggers. Reggers heeft AMST Legal in de zomer van 2021 opgericht in Stockholm, maar is deze zomer terugverhuisd naar Amsterdam. Hij is gespecialiseerd in commercieel contractenrecht. Reggers was hiervoor werkzaam als Legal Counsel / Head of Legal bij meerdere bedrijven in de Randstad, en daarvoor advocaat bij Hogan Lovells (Amsterdam). Zie hierbij het ‘Interview met Robby Reggers (AMST Legal) over Onderhandelen in Scandinavië’.
Welkom terug in Nederland! Waarom bent u teruggekomen en wat zijn uw plannen en doelen voor AMST Legal in Nederland?
Dankjewel! Wij zijn als familie teruggekomen naar Nederland door het werk van mijn vrouw. Ook merkten we dat het door de groei van AMST Legal, met veel Nederlandse klanten, de beste keuze was. Het doel is om AMST Legal verder uit te breiden in Stockholm, maar vooral ook in Amsterdam. Dit lijkt zeker mogelijk omdat er veel vraag is naar onze specialiteit: flexibel juridisch advies over het opstellen en onderhandelen van commerciële contracten. Vooral onze expertise met betrekking tot procesverbetering door standaarden, inclusief het gebruik van Legal Tech & AI, is erg in trek.
Wat waren de belangrijkste uitdagingen en kansen die u tegenkwam bij het verhuizen naar Zweden en het opzetten van uw eigen kantoor daar?
De belangrijkste kans die we zagen was de ongelooflijk fascinerende wereld van Scandinavië die voor ons openging. Fantastisch hoe zo een groot en relatief onbekend deel van Europa zo interessant kan zijn. Naast Zweden, hebben we nu klanten van Noorwegen en Finland tot in de Baltische staten. Dat zijn toch echt landen waar ik nooit had verwacht om zaken te doen. Ik ben nog aan het wachten op mijn eerste vergadering in de poolcirkel, maar dat gaat vast lukken.
De belangrijkste uitdagingen waren zonder twijfel het opzetten van een eigen onderneming in Zweden. Het is al ingewikkeld om in Nederland een onderneming op te zetten, laat staan in het buitenland.
Wat waren in uw werk de meest opmerkelijke cultuurverschillen tussen Zweden en Nederland, en kunt u die toelichten?
Zweden zijn erg conflictmijdend, dus dat is wel een sterk cultuurverschil waar je rekening mee moet houden tijdens werken met collega’s, onderhandelen of bij het adviseren. Daarnaast is het belangrijk om te beseffen dat relaties erg belangrijk zijn om zaken te kunnen doen en dat er focus ligt op consensus bij beslissingen nemen. Dit betekent dat processen wel langzamer gaan dan in Nederland.
Wat me het meest verbaasde was dat de Zweden – zoals in Frankrijk – een cultuur hebben van uitgebreid lunchen tijdens de middag. Er zijn veel betaalbare lunch-aanbiedingen of buffetten in de stad waar advocaten, accountants samen met de bouwvakkers lunchen – echt super. Het is ook heel normaal om bij -15 even buiten te gaan wandelen in de sneeuw om te overleggen met een klant of collega.
U biedt ook onderhandelingscursussen aan. Wat zijn volgens u de grootste valkuilen bij onderhandelingen en hoe kunnen professionals deze vermijden?
De grootste valkuilen in onderhandelingen zijn meestal gebrek aan voorbereiding en slecht luisteren en communiceren. Om dit te vermijden benadrukken we vooral in onze trainingen hoe je 1. beter voorbereid onderhandelingen kunt ingaan door deze te verdelen in drie verschillende fases en 2. met kwaliteitsvragen en empathisch luisteren een beter resultaat kan halen bij onderhandelingen – en je niet altijd met een compromis hoeft te komen. Het gaat erom dat je de tegenpartij beter begrijpt.
Wat is uw tip van de week voor juristen en advocaten die overwegen om internationaal te werken of hun eigen kantoor te starten in het buitenland?
Zo vroeg en goed mogelijk de lokale taal leren maakt een enorm verschil in de mogelijkheid tot het vinden van cliënten in het buitenland. Klinkt erg voor de hand liggend, maar het schiet er toch bij de meeste mensen in (inclusief mezelf).
Daarnaast is het belangrijk om een lokaal netwerk op te bouwen. In dat kader heb ik een erg fijne samenwerking gehad met Nederlandse ondernemingsclubs – ik vind bijvoorbeeld de Nederlandse Kamer van Koophandel in Zweden super – en de Nederlandse ambassade. Zorg ook dat je naar zo veel mogelijk bijeenkomsten en congressen gaat. Dit heeft mij enorm geholpen bij het contact leggen met lokale en internationale klanten die banden hebben met Zweden en actief zijn in Scandinavië.
Conclusie
Robby heeft in dit interview kunnen vertellen over zijn ervaringen met het wonen, werken en opzetten van een nieuw bedrijf in het buitenland. bij vragen of gewoon een gesprek over deze ervaring, kunnen jullie altijd contact opnemen met Robby via +31 6 50608964.
U kan ook altijd Robby contacteren voor trainingen (teams of professionals) hoe beter te onderhandelen in internationale context.
Contract Negotiations: How to Avoid Negative Reactions in Redlines and Mark-ups
𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗶𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘆: When reacting to a comment or suggested wording by a counterparty that is commenting on your contract, 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 using negative language like:
“Adding this wording in the Article is incorrect because it has already been covered in Art. 12.”
Instead, try saying:
“Thank you for your comment. I agree with your addition. Please note that we have already covered this in Art. 12.”
Additionally, for important subjects, you can add:
“If you do not agree with this wording, please let me know”; and/or
“Please let me know if you would like to discuss this topic during our next meeting”.
As we know, during contract negotiations, it’s important to maintain a cooperative relationship with the other party. Remember, the counterparty is also just doing their job and you are working together to reach a mutually advantageous outcome.
By using positive language in your reactions to comments, you can help keep negotiations running smoothly and maintain a good relationship with the counterparty.
For a bit more background on The Importance of a Relationship in Negotiations, please see the following article on the Harvard website.
See our original post on this subject on LinkedIn
#ContractNegotiations #HowtoNegotiateBetter #ContractLaw #AMSTLegal #contracts #negotiation #negotiationskills #relationshipbuilding
Legal in the Lead when improving Contract Templates
To improve your contracts, it is no surprise that we recommend Legal to take the lead in creating and implementing contract templates, particularly for critical documents such as loan agreements, general terms & conditions, DPAs (data processing agreements), etc.
Depending on the maturity of an organisation, leadership and commercial teams often overlook the necessity of Legal approval, which leads to inefficiencies and the risks mentioned in the previous articles on this subject. Even though it might be perceived as slowing down processes, it is advised to let Legal take the lead when creating, amending and rolling out your company´s contract templates.
To illustrate this, see two scenario´s that we encounter in practice:
a) Small Businesses and Start-ups: founders or commercial teams in smaller enterprises rely on freely available online templates or self-made documents. While this is an understandable practical approach in the early stages of a company, it is vital to re-evaluate these initial templates in consultation with Legal.
b) Corporates: even in larger organisations with state of the art templates, it is not unusual that commercial and operational teams use their own, unapproved versions tailored for specific products or services. Case study: For example, when advising a company with 120 employees, we encountered 40 different contract templates of the same Sales Contract – one for each product! As the company – understandably – had serious contract efficiency issues, we worked on successfully consolidating this into three contract templates.
Contracting is a highly cross-functional activity (or at least it should be).2 Legal leadership is nothing without involvement from the other departments in a company. How to do this, we will explain in the next tip in the series how to improve your contract templates.
Doesn´t Legal slow down processes?
There is still a common perception that Legal will slow down processes, which is not correct if Legal embraces the possibilities of (i) standardizing and simplifying the contract templates, (ii) working towards the 80/20 Template Ratio and (ii) contract automation. The research on this subject also confirms that – as we have also experienced in practice in many different companies – that it will actually speed up your processes. Lastly, this is also substantiated by the interest in Legal Tech & CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management) tools offered that automate and streamline contract processes during key stages in the contract lifecycle.
To improve contract templates, more work will indeed need to be done at the start of the process to ensure that the standards not only contain legal, but also business requirements. Once the contract templates have been created and includes the input from all teams (see next tip 4), the standardized templates can be used without input from Legal – which will greatly improve the efficiency, scalability and negotiation time for your contracts.
Automation and Empowerment Commercial Team
Once these contract templates are final, these templates can be made available internally and/or externally depending on the type of contract, for example:
online (Terms and Conditions, DPA, SLA (Service Level Agreement)
contract management software (e.g. Customer Agreement, NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), Order Forms; and/or
by the commercial teams (Enterprise Customer Contract, Partner Agreements, Master Services Agreement).
It is therefore crucial to have a central repository and/or automate the access to the contract templates to empower the commercial teams to use the contract templates within the agreed framework. Commercial teams need to be enabled to complete and send out contracts (e.g. Enterprise Customer Contracts, NDAs and Partner Agreements) that are made using the template contracts. More on this in point 5 below.
Broadened Scope
Key to this approach is that Legal is not only involved in leading the effort in creating typical contract templates like NDAs, sales or partnerships agreements, but also documents such as Service Level Agreements, Offer Documents and Order Forms. Once these agreements have been agreed by Legal and the rest of the company, they can be used at scale within the agreed framework.
The Role of Legal
Legal should oversee the drafting, implementation and management of these contract templates to ensure accurate and compliant use of the templates across the organization. Once Legal is in the lead of the contract templates and the business is working according to the 80/20 Contract Template – unsurprisingly – it typically first leads to more work for Legal. This is caused by the fact that Legal now has control over all contracts that are sent out by the company. This is why automation and empowerment of other teams is so crucial.
This brings us to the next points that Legal should focus on: (i) involving other departments in the company and (ii) improving the communication and cooperation with other departments, which we will discuss in our next post
Contract Negotiations: How To Avoid Negotiation Peaks? Part 5
As we approach the end of Q3, this week a short message as the pressure is on to review, negotiate and close contracts before end of next week!
To make the end of the Quarter more manageable, lay the groundwork:
1. Early Preparaation and Prioritization
2. Communication & Cooperation
3. Standard Templates
4. Implementation of Legal Tech
However, at the end of the Quarter it will always be busier than normal.
𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸:
* Prioritize: Focus on high volume and strategic deals that are nearing closure and absolutely need to close this month.
Ask yourself: Is the very important contract you are working on now actually closing next week, or should you pause this deal for now and pick it up again in Q4 because it is actually a Q4 deal? Focus on Q3 deals only when busy.
Check: what are the Top priorities of the company & Sales department? Are you working on the right deals?
* Clear Communication:Keep open and transparent communication with your customers and internal teams. Confirm their (timing and process) needs, address any concerns and reiterate the urgency to reach a final agreement.
Streamline the contract process by collaborating closely with internal teams. Set daily meetings where necessary with clear goals for each day.
* Team Collaboration: The management, sales, legal, and procurement colleagues have to collaborate seamlessly to resolve any last-minute hurdles. Cross-functional teamwork is key to overcoming last obstacles or escalation matters
Avoid solo working on your very complicated deal, but collaborate with internal and external teams to ensure maximum efficiency and alignment to avoid delays.
* Deadline Management: Keep a close eye on deadlines, review the full list of contracts to be signed and requirements (contracts, documents, approvals, etc) and plan a few days ahead – leave room for error. Missing a critical date, signature or document in the last week of the quarter can be costly.
Closing deals in the final week of Q3 is all about focus, prioritization, communication and teamwork. Let’s make this week count and finish the quarter with success!
Contract Negotiations: How To Avoid Negotiation Peaks? Part 4
In the run up to Quarter 3 end (30th of Sept.), I advise you to send an email out today to your Sales, Partner & Procurement colleagues informing them that in the next two weeks, you will only pick up contracts that are:
* already ongoing;
* truly urgent; and
* need to be signed before the end of this month / end of Quarter (3).
Any deviations from this rule should get a green light from Senior Management.
Why?
The above is a pro-active step to manage your workload and working towards an efficient Legal department.
By emphasizing urgency and advanced planning, you can alleviate the end-of-quarter rush, enabling Legal to focus on what genuinely demands attention.
From experience I am aware that it is not an easy sell to the organisation, but , but trust the process. Once the wider organization realizes this is the gold standard for the legal team, they will (most of the time):
(i) initiate timely discussions, and
(ii) forward their inquiries and feedback well in advance.
I have deployed this strategy previously and while it takes a while for teams to get used to, the positive change is undeniable after 2-3 Quarters.
It ensures that your team’s time and resources are directed toward the most critical and time-sensitive matters. This approach also prevents (to the extent possible) that the teams are working on less urgent tasks, allowing for better productivity and focus.
Next Steps before you hit send:
1. Inform the sales, procurement, partnerships teams during your regular sync-up meetings about this communication and approach of the Legal department.
2. Align this approach with your manager and stakeholders or C-suite overseeing the sales, procurement, partnerships teams.
Good luck! Let me know if it also worked for you or if you have questions / comments.
Contract Negotiations: How To Avoid Negotiation Peaks? Part 3
𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀
Picture the moment of buying new software, finalizing the lease on that dream workspace or formalizing your agreement with the new accountant via engagement letters. These are not just signatures or digital approvals of external contractual terms, they are important business decisions. Welcome to the world of vendor contracts!
Building on our previous discussion how to negotiate your 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 like customer contracts (Part 2), let’s focus now on contract of other parties.
𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁
One key principle we always advocate for: be cautious and hesitant to approve external template vendor contracts (referred to as Customer Paper) replacing your own template customer contract. Even though it is advised that large companies have their own template vendor contract for their vendors, only approve the use of such templates in exceptional and pre-approved cases. This will not only prevent delays, protect your business interests but also streamlines the negotiation process.
𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀
𝟭. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
Roles:
· Strategic direction
· Alignment other teams. ´If the Sales Team wants to buy this software tool, let’s involve Procurement, Finance and IT to check the suitability of the tool´.
· Final decision
* Best practice:
– Keep overview of vendors to align with company’s objectives.
– Work on communication between teams, especially for large vendor contracts.
𝟮. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Acting as the bridge between your company and the external vendors, having the overview and responsibility for all vendor contracts.
Roles:
· Budget & Pricing; Assess value and benefits of vendor contracts.
· Relationship building and primary vendor point of contact
· Negotiating contracts.
· Contract compliance with company policies/procedures
* Best practice:
– Inform all teams early of anticipated engagements with vendors.
– Keep the management updated with vendor list
– Involve the legal team 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 (avoid end of quarter requests) to review contracts with clear timelines.
𝟯. 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹.
Roles:
· Review, advice and negotiate contracts
· Streamline process
· For large companies: create vendor templates
· Create questionnaire for all vendors (create with Compliance / Data Security Team)
* Best practice:
– Create a vendor questionnaire
– Stay proactive (not reactive) to avoid review of vendor contracts in peak periods
– Improve communication between legal, procurement and other teams to avoid delays and last minute reviews.
Prioritize vendor contracts for Quarter start periods. handling contracts based on $value and potential impact.
How To Avoid Peaks in Negotiation Cycles by Improving Team Collaboration
1. Introduction
Working towards an optimized negotiation process is not only a legal matter but requires effective collaboration between various teams. In my experience, the teams highlighted below have the most important role in negotiation cycles.
The general rule to involve all teams in your contract template creation and contract negotiations will always apply. As Legal is in the middle of these processes, we have written this series from the point of view of the Legal department.
Let’s dig deeper into the roles of the different teams involved in negotiating your own contracts.
2. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
Next to a focus on the strategic vision of the company, the management will encourage teams to sign as many customer contracts as possible. It will especially crucial for the management to have a seamless process with minimal involvement from management, except where agreed.
Main roles
In contract negotiation, the roles of the company’s management will be:
- · Strategic Vision
- · Risk Management
- · Stakeholder Alignment
- · Escalations / final decisions
Best practice: Establish a robust structure that defines Management’s role and involvement in decision-making processes. Explore and discuss refinement of contract processes and agree on key priorities.
3. Commercial Team
With this we mean for example Sales & Account Managers, Business Development Managers, Partnership Teams. As a sprinter nearing the finish line, the Commercial Team will race to close deals at the end of each quarter. Smoother processes will mean better results so Commercial Teams are usually more than willing to work towards improvements.
Main Roles:
In contract negotiation, the roles of the company’s commercial team will be:
- · Overall Overview and Responsibility for customer contracts
- · Relationship building / primary point of contact
- · Getting the deal done
- · Stakeholder Alignment
Early involvement and cooperation with other teams is imperative for Sales to avoid bottlenecks & peaks. In the cooperation with Legal, focus on (i) Setting Priorities, (ii) Contract Template Training and (iii) when & how to involve Legal.
4. 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹
In contract negotiations, the legal team navigates all legal advice and negotiations from a strategic point of view, with a goal to improve processes and reduce risks for the company.
Main roles:
In contract negotiation, the roles of the company’s legal team will be:
- · Contract Advice, Negotiation and Drafting
- · Risk Management of the company
- · Creation of contract templates / playbooks and contract process improvement
Best practice: Legal shines in drafting, advising and negotiation of contracts. Do not create gridlocks by making them the point person for each negotiation. Strategize with Sales when Legal should step in, which should mainly be for large or strategic customer contracts.
Conclusion
By carefully dividing roles and collaborating closely between teams, we are able to work on improving contract & negotiation processes. This also includes working better together to avoid end-of-quarter spikes before the holidays.
In our other articles about this topic, see 1, 2, 3 and 4 we dive deeper on the ways to improve the communication and collaboration between these teams.
Contract Negotiatons: How to Avoid Negotiation Peaks? Part 1
Negotiating commercial contracts is always a daunting task, but is particularly complicated at the end of Quarter. We have written a series of tips on how to avoid these negotiation peaks, using my experience gained on this topic since 2004, as I have found that now a great time to start preparing for the end of Q3 and especially for the highest peak of the year (end of Q4).
If we all embrace the goal of reaching a steady negotiation rhythm, we are able to unlock benefits like improved decision making, streamlined processes, more joy at work and stronger relationships. Replace rushed contract negotiations & discussions with a strategic plan that allows for efficient and optimal contract negotiations.
As Commercial Contracting Experts, we focus on the following two scenario’s:
Scenario 1: negotiating your own contracts with buyers of your Products & Services: Customer Contracts.
-Teams involved: Sales, Account Management, Legal, Finance, Management, etc.
Scenario 1: negotiating contract of other companies to buy their products: Vendor & Supplier Contracts.
-Teams involved: Procurement, Finance, Facility, IT, Legal, Management, etc.
Top 10 common Commercial Contracts
– Confidentiality Agreement (NDA)
– Order Form
– Master Services Agreement (MSA)
– General Terms & Conditions (GT&C)
– License Agreement
– Framework Agreement
– Partner Agreement (Reseller, Distribution, Incentive Agreement)
– Service Level Agreements (SLA)
– Statement of Work (SOW)
– Data Privacy Agreement (DPA)
First Tip: start your preparation & planning and list your priorities now.
Are the teams your work with aware that the contracts you are working on need to be signed soon – particulary before end of Q3 or Q4??
Contact your team members this week to inform them of any upcoming contract negotiations.
Four Critical Factors: The following four Critical Factors will prepare you to work towards a steady negotiation cycle:
1. Early Preparation, Planning and Prioritization
2. Communication & Cooperation
3. Standard Templates & Procedures.
4. Implement Legal Tech & Digital Solutions
Bonus: specific actions for the last weeks of each quarter.
In the next posts in this series we will provide you with the specifics of the four Critical Factors and share practical tips for the teams involved, especially Legal, Sales, Procurement and Management.