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Most contract provisions allocate substantive rights and duties. Dispute resolution clauses do something different: they decide where and how any future fight will unfold. A mediation, arbitration, or alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) clause fixes the forum before anyone knows the nature of the dispute, the stakes, or the sympathies involved. 

Artificial intelligence has become a part of everyday business. Employees regularly use AI to summarize documents, draft e-mails, analyze contracts, and even attempt to understand legal issues. While AI tools offer significant benefits, they also create legal risks that many businesses overlook. Before using legal, confidential or customer information with any AI system, users should understand what they are agreeing to and, when in doubt, consult their attorney first.

Jury trial waivers are common contract provisions found in commercial leases, construction contracts, purchase agreements, and other business agreements. Although these provisions are often overlooked during contract negotiations, they can significantly impact litigation strategy if a dispute later arises.

Every commercial contract answers, expressly or by default, a deceptively simple question: if one party sells its business, merges, or restructures, does the deal travel with it? Assignment and delegation provisions supply that answer. They determine whether contractual rights can be transferred to a third party (assignment) and whether contractual duties can be handed off to someone else to perform (delegation). Handled carelessly, these provisions become the reason a valuable right — e.g., a non-compete, a supply commitment, a stream of payments — evaporates in the very transaction meant to capture its value.