Savvy managers no longer look at contracts and the law reactively but use them proactively to reduce their costs, minimize their risks, secure key talent, collaborate to innovate, protect intellectual property, and create value for their customers that is superior to that offered by competitors. To achieve competitive advantage in this way managers need a plan. Proactive Law for Managers provides this plan; The Manager's Legal PlanTM. George Siedel and Helena Haapio first discuss the traditional, reactive approach used by many managers when confronted with the law, then contrast it with a proactive approach that enables the law and managers' legal capabilities to be used to prevent problems, promote successful business, and achieve competitive advantage. Proactive Law for Managers shows how to use contracts and the law to create new value and innovate in often neglected areas - and implement ideas in a profitable manner.

Savvy managers no longer look at contracts and the law reactively but use them proactively to reduce their costs, minimize their risks, secure key talent, collaborate to innovate, protect intellectual property, and create value for their customers that is superior to that offered by competitors. To achieve competitive advantage in this way managers need a plan. Proactive Law for Managers provides this plan; The Manager's Legal PlanTM. George Siedel and Helena Haapio first discuss the traditional, reactive approach used by many managers when confronted with the law, then contrast it with a proactive approach that enables the law and managers' legal capabilities to be used to prevent problems, promote successful business, and achieve competitive advantage. Proactive Law for Managers shows how to use contracts and the law to create new value and innovate in often neglected areas - and implement ideas in a profitable manner.

In recent years, legal scholars in the United States and Europe have explored aspects of legal strategy relating to competitive advantage and the role of law as a positive force within companies. In the United States, the focus has been on law as a source of competitive advantage, while in Europe an approach known as Proactive Law has emerged. This article represents the first attempt to trace the history of these parallel developments and to merge their common themes. In applying concepts from these movements to the contracting process, the article demonstrates their potential to fundamentally change the way management perceives and uses the law. The contracting example also illustrates the opportunities that contracts and the law offer to create new value and innovate in areas often neglected by managers. Part I of the article provides a holistic overview of research by U.S. legal scholars that ranges from an examination of theoretical links between law and competitive advantage to a specific action plan that encourages firms to make better use of their legal resources. Part II examines the Proactive Law Movement and the recognition that it has received in the public policy arena. Part III provides an analysis of the intersection between these developments in the U.S. and Europe, using contract law and the contracting process for illustrative purposes. The article concludes in Part IV by emphasizing how concepts relating to the use of law as a source of competitive advantage can lead to economic success in a manner that also promotes high ethical standards.

This book assembles articles on what could be called an alternative way of legal thinking, known in Scandinavia as the proactive approach to law. Besides a general overview of proactive law, the contributions in this book include topics such as legal risk management, strategic contracting, pre-contractual negotiation, collaborative contracts, iterative contracts, and selective distribution. One of the central concerns in proactive law is to include legal considerations in the managerial process by bringing in business-oriented legal advice, and, generally speaking, engage in cross-professional and interdisciplinary collaboration.

This is a book review of "Proactive Law for Managers: A Hidden Source of Competitive Advantage" by George Siedel and Helena Haapio (Gower Publishing Company, 2011). This book proposes a new approach to law, not from the attorney's perspective, but from the manager's. The authors show that law and lawyers are not simply a barrier to competitiveness or a necessary cost of doing business. A firm's understanding of a regulatory environment can generate value-capturing opportunities that rivals fail to achieve.