Heading lawyers off at the pass is possible

There must be a reason lawyers are the brunt of so many jokes, for even in this day of political correctness no one seems to get too offended by them. Then again, who else makes a bundle of cash off of the disputes of others? Unfortunately in the world of IT, the legal situation is no different.

A recent Cutter Consortium opinion piece , A Risk Assessment Before, May prevent Litigation After, gets to the heart of the matter. Today’s large-scale IT contracts are prone to litigation because they are often badly written, too full of legalese, not properly tied to the real world of IT and too static in nature.

“I am not a lawyer, most of my work is in software consulting, but the contracts are hideous, they are never mapped to what is actually happening,” said Tim Lister, author of the report and frequent expert witness in IT implementation disputes.

Lister, a principal at The Atlantic Systems Guild in New York, said IT contracts have to be more tightly written and state, as certainly as possible, who is responsible for what. Another important factor is to realize that IT contracts are not static and evolve as the implementation moves forward.

“You want to try to make the contract and ongoing document because at the time you commit to a contract, there are all sorts of things that have to be investigated,” he said.

“The idea that you have a contract on day one that sits there and is the document that is the explanation of the interaction between two parties is deeply na

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now