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THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR THE BIG DEAL |
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When is a great deal a disappointing deal. The simple answer is when you don’t end up with, at the end of the deal, what you expected to end up with at the start of the deal.
What is business if it isn’t the conduct of commerce. What are commercial lawyers if they are not involved in commercial transactions.
Many people do question the role of a lawyer in any commercial transaction. Commercial lawyers are facilitators and guardians. They are facilitators in that they try to ensure that the transaction proceeds in an effective and orderly way. They are guardians in that, at all times, they have their Clients interests at heart. Their role is to ensure that the Client gets what he, she or they bargained for.
The discipline of commercial law is concerned with the rights and obligations which arise in the course of any form of commercial transaction whether that is a sale or purchase of a physical item or where there is a supply of services. Any such transaction gives rise to numerous often diverse legal issues and relationships.
Legal text books reflect the rich and often dry academic diversity of the subject in that no two offer the same approach. There is no commercial code in UK law as there is in France and no unifying approach to the subject. Commercial lawyers face bringing together a plethora of diverse sometimes competing legal topics the only common thread running through them being that their boundaries overlap and form the underlying principles of commercial law in the UK.
Commercial law is a bit like the ‘pick and mix’ counter at Woolworths. On any commercial transaction any lawyer will, having analysed what that transaction involves, metaphorically walk upto the counter where are displayed jars of all these diverse legal topics and select from each appropriate jar a piece of law which has some bearing on the transaction in hand. The point is that virtually every commercial transaction is a bespoke piece of legal engineering. As I have said above no two are ever the same. Sure there can be overlap in terms of issues between one transaction and the next but no two are ever precisely the same. There is always something that makes one different from the other.
As I began, the job of a commercial lawyer is to make sure that great deals stay great and that there is no fundamental disappointment at the end. They are also there to facilitate the deal and make sure it happens.
Next time you’re at Woolworths spare a thought for the assistant on the pick and mix counter!
Whatever your legal requirements, contact:
Sandersons Solicitors 17-19 Parliament Street Hull HU1 2BH Tel: 01482 324662 Email: enquiries@sandersonssolicitors.co.uk
Source: Commerce & Industry, February 2004
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