Legal149
Commercially acceptable risk
A clause Legal hates, Sales loves, and everyone signs on the last day of the quarter.
"It's a commercially acceptable risk" — famous last words, indemnity edition.
Translation
We're doing it anyway.
Section
Legal
Redlines, caveats and commercially acceptable risk.
14 entries
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Legal131
Redline
A document exchange sport in which each side rewrites the same paragraph nine times.
"Sending redlines back tonight, minor points only." There are 34.
Translation
Polite combat via track changes.
Legal77
Caveat
A small, Latin-flavoured escape hatch designed to sit quietly under a commercial promise until it is time to collapse it entirely.
"We can certainly guarantee delivery by Friday, subject to the usual caveats regarding third-party APIs."
Translation
"We will not be delivering this by Friday."
Legal75
Without prejudice
A linguistic forcefield applied to correspondence that allows a lawyer to propose a sensible compromise without accidentally admitting their client was in the wrong.
"Please review this settlement proposal, which we submit entirely without prejudice."
Translation
Let's settle this quietly, but if we go to court, I will deny we ever had this conversation.
Legal72
Best endeavours
A legal commitment to exhaust all possibilities and resources to achieve an impossible task, while maintaining a plausible alibi for when it inevitably fails.
"We will use our best endeavours to have the contracts finalized before the bank holiday."
Translation
"We will send one email on Friday afternoon and then go to the pub."
Legal70
Blackline
A comparative document used to track changes between contract drafts, designed primarily to help lawyers justify their fees by debating the nuance of a semicolon.
Could you send over the blackline showing the updates to the liability clause?
Translation
Show me exactly how many hours of work we can bill for correcting minor typos.
Legal70
Boilerplate
Standardised, impenetrable legal text designed to protect the company from its own incompetence, which both parties will sign without reading.
"Don't worry about Section 14.2, it's just standard boilerplate regarding our right to ownership of your firstborn child."
Translation
Copy-pasted text we hope you don't read.
Legal70
Take a commercial view
A polite request to bypass compliance protocols and proceed with a risky endeavor because the quarterly sales targets are looming.
"Let's take a commercial view on these terms and conditions so we can get the contract signed today."
Translation
"Let's pretend this rule doesn't exist."
Legal61
Ring-fence
To legally isolate a specific asset or budget, ensuring it remains entirely safe from being spent on anything actually useful to the business.
"We need to ring-fence the marketing budget for Q4."
Translation
Nobody touch this money, even if the building is on fire.
Legal58
Close Of Play
An end-of-day deadline expressed as though work were cricket.
"Comments by close of play, please."
Translation
Tonight, and probably late.
Legal57
Wet signature
The archaic act of signing a physical piece of paper with actual ink, usually demanded by legal departments who view modern digital encryption with deep suspicion.
"We can't accept a DocuSign for this schedule; we will need a wet signature."
Translation
"Please locate a printer, a pen, and a scanner, and prepare to waste twenty minutes."
Legal45
Carve-out
A painstakingly negotiated clause designed to ensure one is legally permitted to behave poorly under highly specific circumstances.
"We can sign the master agreement, but we will require a carve-out for our independent consulting activities."
Translation
We require a bespoke loophole.
Legal39
Pushback
A polite, highly professional refusal to cooperate, usually justified by a sudden, intense concern for regulatory compliance.
"We are anticipating some pushback from the contracts team on this clause."
Translation
They are going to say absolutely not.
Legal29
Legal review
The procedural funnel through which bold business ideas are passed to ensure they return entirely free of risk, enthusiasm, or commercial viability.
"The press release is finalized, we are just waiting for a quick legal review."
Translation
"We are about to delete the only interesting paragraph."