An overview of common provisions and contractual issues for organizations

Although contract review is often seen as a process within the purview of legal counsel, the involvement of risk management professionals can serve to provide valuable insight into potential risks to the organization created by such contracts, particularly where the risk management professional is in a position to take an "enterprise wide" view of the organization and its operations. This insight can extend beyond reviewing standard insurance and indemnification clauses to identifying the risks created by different contractual relationships with other providers or contractors. This article describes a number of contractual issues and offers practical guidance on how the risk management professional can address those issues in order to avoid or limit risk to the organization. It also provides an explanation of the purpose and intent of a number of standard or "boilerplate" terms found in many contracts.