Читать книгу How to Be a Lawyer - Jason Mendelson - Страница 26

If you are playing a long-term game, reputation constraints can be even more important than a specific term in a contract. For instance, the venture capital industry is small, and reputation matters a lot. Bad behavior gets talked about, even if it's done behind closed doors and not out in the open. The smaller the ecosystem, the more this phenomenon exists, so as you focus on smaller geographies, the importance of reputation increases.

While there are some people who care less about their reputation than others, your reputation will be established over a long period of time. No contract is airtight, but how you deal with ambiguity and conflict will help define your reputation. This impacts both entrepreneurs and investors.

When considering how to create a contract, again, forget about most everything you learned in class and ask yourself: Does reputation matter to both of these parties? Will reputation constrain bad behavior here, or not? If we take the joint venture scenario where the relationship is a true win-win, then perhaps we have less to concern ourselves about. If this is a divorce (personal, business, or otherwise), then perhaps neither party cares about their reputation. The really interesting situations are where only one party cares about their reputation. These situations are ripe for abuse by the noncaring party.

Bottom line: Contracts isn't just for business lawyers. It's great for anyone who deals with relationships, so long as you consider the filter of our four concepts for contracts. If you get caught up in the technicalities of the law school class, it's a bore and seems irrelevant to most.