Reaching an agreement that everyone understands and a document that reflects a true meeting of the minds is always challenging.  Besides the implicit and explicit legal meaning attributed to certain words, there are the individual eccentricities, regional differences and international/ cultural differences that may make the job harder than you think.  Jared Sandberg’s recent Wall Street Journal article , for example, points out that some cultures value relationships more than contracts.  As a result, you may need to look beyond the 4-corners of the agreement to manage the legal risk effectively.  

Footnote:  These cultural differences also present an interesting challenge when managing a diverse workforce.   

The social pressures are huge, and some of the good risk procedures are thrown by the wayside.

Richard Dunn, a former risk control chief at Merrill Lynch quoted in The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 25, 2008 about the $7.2 billion loss generated by the rogue trader at Societe Generale SA. 

Social pressures?  What is this?  High School?

As the sorry mess surrounding rogue trader Jerome Kerviel continues to unfold I can’t help but wonder why his “activities prompted questions from risk managers several times last year, but that the bank never began an investigation because his explanations defused any suspicions.”  Isn’t that like asking the fox to give you the hen house inventory report?