Redline Wars

Send us Fan MailLast year, a deal I cared about almost died over a single clause. Ninety-three redlines came back from legal. The one that nearly ended the negotiation was about a risk that, in this specific engagement, would almost never materialize. Meanwhile, the thing that actually mattered, a data portability provision worth hundreds of thousands in future switching costs, went untouched.That is the problem with how most organizations handle legal and procurement. Two protective functions, calibrated to different risks, operating in parallel instead of in partnership.In this episode, I break down why procurement addresses commercial risk and legal addresses legal risk, and why that distinction is why the two functions never report to each other. Then I walk through the five patterns that turn legal review into a redline war: risk theater, the broken sequential review model, redlines without commercial context, risk tolerance mismatch, and unclear escalation paths. Each one is fixable. None of them are fixed by telling people to get along.If you are a General Counsel, a Legal Operations leader, a CPO, or a business stakeholder who has ever watched two protective functions fight each other to a draw, this episode is for you. The goal is not peace. The goal is protecting the same thing together.The Other Side of the Table. What Your CPO Wishes You Knew.---New episodes every Monday. Subscribe wherever you listen. Website: https://procurexcellence.com Email: [email protected] Topics covered: vendor proposals, procurement rejection, discovery process, risk management, mission-driven purchasing, stakeholder alignment, supplier relationships