Building a Smarter Dispute Resolution Playbook Pays Dividends, Bloomberg Law

In Bloomberg Law, New Era ADR Co-Founder and General Counsel Shane Mulrooney challenges one of the most persistent habits in contract drafting: treating dispute-resolution, forum selection, and governing-law provisions as boilerplate. Often buried in the “Miscellaneous” section, these clauses are among the most overlooked – but are also among the most consequential – parts of any agreement.

Drawing on his experience as a general counsel and transactional attorney drafting contracts for complex M&A transactions, Shane makes the case for developing a strategic dispute-resolution playbook that aligns processes with risk and streamlines outcomes. Instead of a one-size-fits-all clause, he argues that approaches to contract drafting should account for the nature of the relationship, the size and complexity of each deal, and the stakes involved if a dispute arises.

“A well-constructed playbook minimizes wasted resources on routine disputes, preserves firepower for strategic matters, and transforms the legal department from a reactive to a proactive function,” Shane writes.

The article walks in-house attorneys through five essential considerations for rethinking dispute-resolution provisions: assessing risk, selecting the right forum, deciding how much to customize procedural rules, choosing the governing law, and addressing key details such as fee allocation and arbitrability.

Ultimately, Shane’s framework empowers legal teams to handle disputes more efficiently, protect high-stakes matters, and avoid the “disputes about the dispute” that can derail even the best-intentioned contracts.

Subscribers to Bloomberg Law can read the full article here.