Brodies develops innovative software that identifies Brexit risks

Brodies LLP has developed innovative software that helps businesses identify contractual risks arising from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

The software can search hundreds of commercial contracts in minutes to identify clauses that could pose a risk to businesses post-Brexit, allowing organisations to review agreements and potentially amend or renegotiate them with their customers and suppliers.

The technology allows users to easily identify contractual terms that require scrutiny. These include provisions that:

• require parties to comply with EU legislation and regulation
• impose geographic or other restrictions (such as the scope of a licence, agency or distribution agreement)
• stipulate governing law
• establish jurisdiction for dispute resolution
• relate to cross-border data sharing

It can also help identify commercial issues for supply chains where suppliers are located in other EU member states or in countries where the loss of free trade arrangements secured through the EU may have an impact.

The technology is embedded in the firm’s BOrganised contract management system, which provides wider benefits to users to help them manage contracts proactively and efficiently through features such as key event reminders and forward activity scheduling.

Grant Campbell, Brodies’ Head of Commercial Services, said: “Brexit may impact many of the contracts that organisations have in place to underpin their commercial relationships. This applies not just to contracts with organisations elsewhere in the EU, but also to contracts with other organisations within the UK.

“While the detailed impact of Brexit will only become clear once negotiations get underway, businesses will need to be ready to analyse their contracts and react when the time comes. BOrganised, which allows organisations to store and manage all of their contracts and related information in a single secure location, can help organisations prepare for Brexit by identifying those risk areas. By having all of your contracts in one easily searchable location you can quickly and easily identify those that will need to be reviewed, categorise and prioritise them according to the results of the review and then track subsequent actions on those contracts that may be affected.”

The software complements the advice provided by Brodies’ Brexit Advisory Group, which pools experts across Scotland’s largest law firm to provide clients with a ‘one stop shop’ for pragmatic and informed legal advice on the issues raised by the vote in favour of Brexit.

With Scotland’s leading EU and constitutional law practice and legal expertise in every area affected by Brexit, Brodies is uniquely placed to help clients understand and address the many questions to which the ‘Leave’ vote gives rise. Brodies has close links with top law firms across the EU, is the only Scottish firm with an office in Brussels, and is top ranked in the independent legal directories for EU & Competition Law, Administrative & Public Law and Parliamentary & Public Affairs, alongside a further 34 practice areas.