Jusletter IT

In today’s networked economy, businesses increasingly rely on others to provide products and services for them. As timelines get shorter and inventories are kept to the lowest possible level, companies become more and more dependent on each other – and on the effective management of contracts. Contracts have an impact on profits, rights, cash flow, costs, and risks. It is not enough that lawyers master contract law. Lawyers need to understand how contracts work in business. Business managers, in turn, need to know how contract law relates to the business. Despite the importance of contracts as a means to balance risk against profits many managers leave it to the lawyers to take care of contracts and many lawyers leave it to the managers to take care of profits. To assure success, managerial-legal collaboration is required. Yet it is not always easy to engage people in cross-professional communication and make sure they speak the same language. Over the years, we have come to appreciate the possibilities that simulation, visualization, and gamification hold to enhance the learning of contracts and law in action. These approaches offer a means to make lawyers and management understand how contracts impact business strategy. This paper introduces CREW, a web-based game which enables lawyers and business managers to engage in group learning about the business impact of contracts. It illustrates how playing a game can engage people, enhance managerial-legal collaboration and help the players prevent and resolve contract problems.