Contracts by Role

A legal ops function is responsible for how contracts move through the business, not just whether any one contract is sound: the review queue and turnaround times, a consistent clause playbook across reviewers, renewal and obligation tracking, and the decision of when to handle volume in-house versus route it to outside counsel or an outsourced team.

Procurement is responsible for the commercial and risk terms of vendor relationships, not just price: liability caps proportionate to the contract value, SLAs with a real remedy, auto-renewal terms that do not lock in a bad vendor, and exit rights that do not leave the business dependent on one supplier with no way out.

A founder should personally understand the dilution and control implications of any investment document before signing, confirm what actually needs board or shareholder approval versus what a founder can sign alone, check whether the company genuinely owns its IP, and know when a personal guarantee is being asked for inside an ordinary-looking vendor or lease contract.

Finance should review any contract for its cash flow and budget impact: payment terms relative to the business's own receivables and payables cycle, auto-renewal clauses that create unbudgeted recurring spend, liability exposure sized against the contract's actual value, and cross-border payment terms that carry currency or transfer-timing risk.