Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#96 - How NOT to use your in-house lawyers

23 Nov 2009

Oddly enough, a CIPSA person told The Buyer, the most popular training courses and seminars that CIPSA run are the legal-beagle ones.

Especially the two-day ‘Contract Law Masterclass’ apparently.

It is odd because almost all major organisations have their own in-house legal department. Surely that is their domain?
Do procurement professionals not just delegate [or in-source] their legal queries and drafting to the indolent team of legal colleagues ready to re-charge by the six minute time block on the chess-clock have on their desks nowadays?

Obviously not. Because they are busy. There is much legal work in all major organisations of course. But there are rarely firm SLA’s in pace with busy in-house legal departments, so tiresome and repetitive queries from the procurement team often go to the bottom of the pile. What buyer can wait three weeks for a legal viewpoint? And then get “legal” not “commercial” advice at the end of it? It is not a good use of the buyers time, the lawyers time nor a client’s resources.

So the onus is on all procurement professionals to have a decent, working level, understanding of contract law. That is why there are two modules [at Level 4 and Level 6] within the CIPS qualifications syllabus. It is an essential part of the job – right down to Hadley v Baxendale, the Carbolic Smokeball Company and an Invitation to Treat. It is part of being a procurement professional.

Moreover, buyers need to know exactly where the boundaries are – they need to know when they are on safe ground if drafting & negotiating contracts, and where they are in deep water and need legal support and advice. Then they will also then know just enough to specify the RIGHT question for the in-house counsel and, therefore, get the RIGHT legal advice to apply commercially to the case in hand. Making contracts is part of being a professional buyer. And making the job easier for yourself and your legal ‘supplier’ just common sense.

The Buyer – posted 23 November 2009

The views of THE BUYER are personal and are not necessarily those of Procurement Professional magazine, BTTB Marketing nor CIPS.