Introduction
The programme “Managing Legal Relationships with External Parties (Suppliers, Customers, etc.)” develops professional practice in Legal Affairs. It connects the subject with workplace challenges by examining existing evidence and practices and choosing methods appropriate to the organization and its available resources.
The learning progresses from procurement planning and supplier evaluation to contract drafting and allocation of obligations and risks, with practical work on customer experience development and complaint handling, legal analysis, research, and memorandum drafting, governance, accountability, and compliance management. Participants prepare outputs to support workplace application and review the quality and results of implementation.
Learning objectives
- Prepare a purchasing plan and bid comparison based on needs, specifications, and published criteria in an application related to “Managing Legal Relationships with External Parties (Suppliers, Customers, etc.)”.
- Design a service journey and complaint response based on customer needs and follow-up evidence.
- Analyze a legal issue and write a memorandum distinguishing facts, rules, and alternatives.
- Define decision-making authority, accountability mechanisms, and obligation monitoring.
- Draft contractual clauses connecting scope, acceptance, payment, and risk allocation.
Learning areas
1. Procurement Planning and Supplier Evaluation
- Analyze the need, request timing, and life-cycle cost, checking for alternatives available in inventory or existing contracts.
- Write clear specifications, scope of work, and acceptance criteria, avoiding restrictions that the nature of the need does not justify.
- Study the supplier market, define the procurement method, timetable, and authorities, and refer to applicable regulations and policies.
- Compare bids using published technical and financial criteria and documented weights, and prepare a record showing assessment evidence and potential conflicts of interest.
- Build a mechanism for monitoring delivery, quality, obligations, and change, and measure supplier performance and address noncompliance. The application examines a case related to “Managing Legal Relationships with External Parties (Suppliers, Customers, etc.)”.
2. Customer Experience Development and Complaint Handling
- Define customer groups, expectations, and touchpoints, and map an actual journey including waiting, effort, and information exchange.
- Analyze the voice of the customer, complaints, and feedback, classifying recurring causes and linking them to the process, product, or communication channel.
- Set response, resolution, and escalation standards that consider the problem's impact, staff authority, and message clarity for the customer.
- Simulate a difficult service situation, applying listening, empathy, and fact verification, and offer a feasible solution or alternative.
- Build indicators for resolution time, complaint recurrence, and experience quality, and use results to address root causes and monitor impact.
3. Legal Analysis, Research, and Memorandum Drafting
- Define the legal question, facts, documents, and parties, separating established facts from accounts and untested assumptions.
- Identify the relevant legal system, jurisdiction, and sources, and verify the law currently in force, its effective date, and amendments before applying it.
- Analyze the relationship between the rule and facts and areas of interpretation and disagreement, documenting arguments and evidence supporting each alternative.
- Draft a memorandum covering the issue, facts, analysis, options, and risks in clear language that preserves precise legal terminology.
- Review the memorandum for consistency, confidentiality, and citation accuracy, and identify matters requiring specialist advice or additional documents.
4. Governance, Accountability, and Compliance Management
- Map decision-making, oversight, and execution levels, and identify separation of roles and potential conflicts of interest.
- Review policies, committees, delegated authorities, and reporting frequency, and connect each responsibility to clear authority and limits.
- Create an obligations register specifying the source, scope, responsible party, and compliance evidence, and review applicable local requirements.
- Define disclosure, accountability, complaint handling, and misconduct reporting mechanisms, and protect information confidentiality during follow-up.
- Assess a practical governance case and prepare a gap remediation plan with review indicators and evidence of action closure.
5. Contract Drafting and Allocation of Obligations and Risks
- Define the contract's purpose, parties, legal capacity, signing authority, and constituent documents, and verify the relevant law and jurisdiction.
- Draft a clear scope, deliverables, acceptance criteria, and delivery schedule, and clarify the relationship between specifications, appendices, and document precedence.
- Review price, payment, change, warranty, and liability terms, connecting obligations to verification methods and evidence that can be retained.
- Define notice, delay, suspension, termination, and dispute resolution mechanisms, checking internal consistency and ensuring clauses do not conflict.
- Prepare a matrix for managing obligations, deadlines, correspondence, and changes, and practice handling a disagreement over scope or acceptance.
Practical outputs
- A procurement plan, supplier evaluation matrix, and contract follow-up template.
- A customer journey map, complaint response guide, and service quality cards.
- A legal research memorandum, source list, and issues requiring verification.
- An authority matrix, obligations register, and escalation and review mechanism.
- Draft contract clauses, an obligations matrix, and a contract review checklist.
Who should attend
- Practitioners, specialists and supervisors whose work relates to the programme subject.
- Managers and teams working in legal affairs, according to their practical responsibilities.
- Professionals responsible for applying the outputs of “Managing Legal Relationships with External Parties (Suppliers, Customers, etc.)” within their organizations.
Prerequisites
- Working familiarity with the programme field and the ability to discuss a professional case or challenge.
- Confirm the suitability of your experience and any specialist prerequisites with the Union before participation.
Conclusion
The programme “Managing Legal Relationships with External Parties (Suppliers, Customers, etc.)” brings together concepts, case review and a practical application. Participants prepare steps that can be adapted to their responsibilities and organizational resources, with an indicator to follow application and review results after returning to work.
Participation arrangements and any special requests are specified in the confirmation issued by the Union.