- Source link: https://avc.com/2009/06/term-sheet-manners/
- TL;DR: When negotiating a term sheet (or any legal document), instead of having your lawyer mark up the documents and send them over to the recipient’s lawyers, instead meet the recipient on the phone or in person to discuss and walk through your most important proposed changes.
- How helpful?: 4/5 ****
- Topic Tags: negotiation, manners, term sheet, etiquette
- Relevant questions addressed:
- What kind of term sheet negotiation etiquette should I keep in mind?
- Summary bullet points
- These things can apply to all legal documents, not just term sheets
- When you’re working on a deal and are going back and forth with documents, don’t just have you lawyers mark up a bunch of documents and send them over
- This is pretty annoying and could upset the person with whom you’re working
- Better approach: compile a list of the big changes you’re looking for
- Call recipient and walk them through the things you need changed
- Better if face-to-face, but not worth getting on a plane (unless the deal is super important)
- Reasons a live discussion is ideal for suggesting changes to a deal
- Shows respect for the other side
- Discussing principal to principal is much easier than working through lawyers
- Conversations better for resolving misunderstandings quickly
- Follow up links