Preventing the Dispute Before It Begins

To help you understand and adopt more proactive dispute prevention practices, this comprehensive guide provides effective dispute prevention mechanisms to help control and eliminate contract disputes and successfully manage better business relationships.

Preventing the Dispute Before it Begins: Proven Mechanisms for Fostering Better Business Relationships focuses on proven dispute prevention mechanisms, why they help prevent disputes, and how they work in practice.

Contract disputes are costly, interfere with business productivity, result in economic waste, and destroy business relationships. If you are ready to take action to prevent disputes before they occur, this valuable guide provides proven prevention mechanisms to effectively avoid and prevent business disputes. Written by leading authorities, the book introduces the why and what of dispute prevention and includes a case study of an organization that is shifting from reactive dispute resolution to applying proactive dispute prevention practices.

This guide will help you better understand the detailed workings of prevention-focused mechanisms, which include formalizing and managing the business relationship. An overview of the mechanisms is discussed, why they are effective in preventing disputes, and how organizations are putting them into practice. Additionally, the authors include suggestions for designing a Dispute Management System, as well as a compelling business case for why you should make the shift to dispute prevention.

If you counsel or play a role in procuring, negotiating, contracting, and/or managing business-to-business relationships, including commercial and supply chain businesses, this guide is an essential resource to take proactive actions to prevent disputes before they occur.

Published by the American Bar Association Business Law Section, the book is written by experienced and knowledgeable dispute resolution and prevention professionals:

Kate Vitasek is an international authority for her award-winning research and Vested® business model for highly collaborative relationships. She is a Distinguished Fellow for the University of Tennessee’s Global Supply Chain Institute.

James P. (Jim) Groton is a retired partner of law firm of Eversheds Sutherland, where he led the Construction and Dispute Prevention and Resolution practices of that firm.

Ellen Waldman is a conflict resolution expert with deep practical and academic experience who currently serves as the Vice President of Advocacy & Educational Outreach at the CPR Institute.

Allen Waxman, of counsel at DLA Piper, is the former general counsel and head of litigation at Pfizer, as well as general counsel and business unit leader at other life science companies. He is former president and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR).

The reviews are in:

"Preventing the Dispute Before It Begins contains essential tools to keep business relationships on track and free from value killing disputes. The book details a practical continuum all businesses can follow. Dispute prevention commences in the pre-contract relationship development phase, before misalignment and unresolved problems spiral into destructive and counterproductive activity. Whether you are involved in contracting or managing business-to-business relationships, this book is an invaluable resource for companies to avoid and manage the waste associated with disputes."
~ Bill Dodero, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Bayer US

"I lead a team of global lawyers at one of the world’s largest energy companies in providing strategic legal advice to our businesses. In this role, I am a firm believer in the need for our teams that enter into business relationships with other companies to be thoughtful up front in how we can prevent disputes from occurring. I found this book to be the first clear resource I have come across in reviewing the variety of mechanisms that can be deployed to prevent disputes in business-to-business relationships. It is easy to read and understand. We will all benefit from using its guidance in focusing our energies on growing our business relationships rather than wasting those energies on unnecessary conflict."
~Laura Robertson, Vice-President and Deputy General Counsel, Conoco-Phillips

This is a transformative book for legal professionals seeking more proactive dispute prevention practices. If you’re looking for a better way to manage business problems before they become disputes, this is the perfect book for you.
~Lucy Bassli, Founder and Principal, InnoLaw Group, PLLC  and former Assistant General Counsel, Legal Operations and Contracting for Microsoft

"The world of contracts is changing in exciting ways with new ideas about how parties can foster productive relationships that go well beyond sticking to the letter of an agreement. Preventing the Dispute Before It Begins provides a terrific “tour d’horizon” of the latest developments. As well as being invaluable to practitioners it will be of great interest to academics who want to understand how much contracts can achieve."
~Oliver Hart, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Department of Economics at Harvard University