For everyone who's ever wanted to kill a contract with fire
Most contract negotiations aren’t unique. They just pretend to be. The same clauses light up, the same arguments repeat, and the same energy drains out of the room. This is what happens when knowledge lives in people instead of structure.
We’re not negotiating new legal principles. We’re negotiating preference and leverage... and we already know how most of these debates end.
Some lawyers treat negotiation like war. They rack up redlines like trophies. But “winning” the markup can still lose the deal — or torch the budget. A flashback story from Biglaw that explains why.
Most negotiations aren’t strategic. They’re improvised—and everyone’s hoping to land in the same zip code.
Redlines feel like warfare. In reality, they’re patterned. Once you know where the real pressure points live, the rest is just red ink.
