There
are so many sources of legal risk... and it is
so difficult to manage these risks.
In risk management, we always speak about
the possibility
that an event will occur and
the impact, the
practical consequences, should that
possibility come to pass.
There is a blind point:
Low Frequency / High Impact events.
Legal risk is an area full of this kind of
events.
►There are
risks related to legal
uncertainties.
As an expert witness, I can assure you that
most of the current
transnational agreements will not stand in
court.
Complex transactions... problems with
judicial and arbitral enforcement of
contracts... lack of administrative
transparency... corruption... insecure or
undefined property rights... social and
political risks...
►There is
a huge risk that is called
negligence. One of the
employees of your company
failed to exercise the standard of care
that a reasonable person would have exercised
under the same circumstances...
1.
He
had a duty or
reasonable standard of care. Professionals are
held to a higher standard of care than the
average person in society.
2. There was
breach of duty, or "negligence".
3. Someone suffered from
that, for example there is an injury,
accident, death
etc. There are physical damages (like
personal injury), economic (like financial
loss), or both (like financial loss consequent
on a personal injury).
4. The negligence
was
the "proximate cause" of the harm - without
that negligence nobody would suffer.
5.
Only
reasonably
foreseeable damage may be recovered by an
action in negligence. What is reasonable? This
is the responsibility of the expert witnesses,
to explain.►Negligence...►Negligence to
protect intellectual property assets.►Negligence
that leads to liability to shareholders.►Negligence to
take proper account of employment law or of
the rights of employees or trade unions.►Negligence to
take warranties from counterparty, relying on
due diligence procedures. ►Negligence to
do what you have promised, because of a
technical defect, lack of capacity, because of
a "trusted" third party.►Negligence to assess the
possible liability from what you produce or
do.Negligence
that leads to legal proceedings with adverse
consequences greater than expected
Attorneys... another source of legal risk!
Lawsuits wilt
multi-million dollar fees motivate attorneys.
