In an ideal world...

It's Friday, the sun's shining, the Ashes is on, and I'm stuck in the office. Perhaps it's not surprising the foibles of my professional peers are jarring a little today. A few things it would be nice if we could all start to get right when negotiating IT contracts:

• If you're an IT/IP lawyer, it helps if you know the difference between 'licence' and 'license'. If you're a software supplier operating in the UK with standard terms governed by English law, this seems pretty fundamental. 
• If you've promised a full document review by close Wednesday so your customer can prepare for negotiations on Monday, it's not good form to tell your customer on Friday afternoon that your review will he 'high level', and you'd prefer to 'talk through the general points' on Monday rather than negotiate the document.
• If you think the best way to negotiate a contract is to refuse to attend meetings, to try to filter your (spurious) arguments about why you can't change your (badly written, unintelligible) standard terms through a sales guy who doesn't really understand those arguments (and why should he?), and to stonewall everyone into submission, you're probably mistaken. You'll have a frustrated customer, not a signed deal.
• If you really really really have to insist on a general indemnity for breach from your customer, it's probably helpful if you understand what an indemnity is.
• If your list of exclusions of liability runs to sub-paragraph (s) and includes direct losses it's helpful if you've thought of what exactly you will be liable for if you don't deliver on the £2m contract for which you're insisting you must have full payment on signature.
• If you insist on dismissing any attempt to include a few binding obligations in the contract because you 'see this as a partnering relationship', it doesn't really work to look confused when you're asked if that means you're prepared to share the customer's risk in the deal.
• If your sales guy has created an artificial deadline for signature (that's irrelevant to the customer's requirements) because he's got a quarter end coming up and wants some commission, you look a bit silly when you start saying that there's not time to negotiate points that are important to your customer because of the signature deadline.