The fault lines named
Where the arrangement is most likely to break and become a claim.
A written opinion on the dispute exposures in an arrangement, a relationship, or a decision, so the client can weigh the risk before committing.
Many disputes are visible in the arrangement that precedes them. Before a client commits to a deal, a relationship, or a decision, the firm reads it for one thing: where it is exposed to a future dispute, and how that dispute would unfold. The deliverable is a written opinion on the exposure. The firm does not draft the arrangement or negotiate it; it tells the client where the fault lines are.
The firm reads the arrangement the way it reads a case, in reverse: it asks where the dispute would come from and works back to the exposure in front of the client today. It is candid about the fault lines rather than reassuring, because the value of the opinion is that it names the risk the client would rather not see. It stops at the written opinion; the drafting and the deal stay outside its scope.
Where the arrangement is most likely to break and become a claim.
How a dispute would unfold, and the realistic exposure, in writing.
Advice on the exposure; the drafting stays with your transactional lawyer.
A client weighing a significant arrangement asks for the dispute exposure to be read before committing. The firm identifies the points at which the relationship is most likely to break, sets out in writing how a dispute would unfold from each, and gives the realistic exposure for the client to weigh against the upside.
Described in abbreviated, anonymised form to preserve client confidentiality.
By having the arrangement read for its fault lines: where the parties' interests will diverge, where the terms are ambiguous, and where a breakdown would most likely become a claim, set out as a written exposure opinion.
A written assessment of where an arrangement or decision exposes you to a dispute or claim, how that dispute would unfold, and what the realistic exposure is, so you can decide with the downside in view.
Yes; reviewing an arrangement for dispute exposure and giving a written opinion is advisory work, distinct from drafting or negotiating, which the firm leaves to a transactional lawyer.