The readiness gap
A checklist for disputes resilience
The readiness gap: a checklist for disputes resilience
A cultural shift is needed. Leaders must involve in-house Legal in strategic decision-making and risk management as a strategic partner. Connecting stakeholders across the business with Legal at an early stage, in areas like product development, policy design, communications, risk assessments, and compliance, will determine whether businesses remain reactive or conflict ready.
Our research shows:
of leaders see agility as critical to their organisation's survival in the next decade.
expect disputes budgets to rise in the next 10 years, yet only 45% rate their current disputes risk management efforts as successful.
believe weak legal risk management leads to unsustainable disputes expenses.
Clients need to be agile, but agility requires the right structures and the right mindset. That’s where we come in: building legal readiness into the fabric of how they operate.
Andrew Howell Partner and Executive Board member, UK
To close this gap, businesses should embed disputes readiness into strategy and operations across 10 key areas.
Strategy
Work with Legal to build disputes management into your business strategy from the start and implement litigation life cycle planning early on for major transactions and partnerships.
Training
Provide regular training across risk areas, including compliance risks, contract management, early-warning systems, dispute resolution handling (such as document governance and legal privilege), incident response, and crisis communications.
Insurance
Review portfolios (D&O, product liability, business interruption) to ensure alignment with evolving risks and innovation.
Due diligence
Strengthen supply chain questionnaires, third-party audits, and contractual protections.
When people are under commercial pressure to get deals done, they risk skipping over key clauses… Later, when the contract is being picked apart in a dispute, they ask: ‘How did we agree to this?'
Ryan Ferry Partner, Disputes and Investigations, Ireland
Crisis planning
Update and stress-test incident response plans and ensure alignment with reputation management and PR; 51% currently lack crisis preparation.
It’s not just about spending money – it’s about spending it wisely to safeguard the future of the organisation.
Philippe Glaser Partner, Disputes and Investigations, France
Horizon scanning
Monitor regulatory shifts, use AI/tech, and engage Legal early to assess scope (only 29% do so at the strategic stage).
Even the most sophisticated businesses are struggling with regulatory overload. They're asking: how does it apply to our business, how do we prioritise, and how do we prepare for what’s coming? The advent of AI is an opportunity to address that challenge and – in our experience – adopting innovative horizon scanning tools is an increasingly essential exercise.
Alison Dennis Partner, Life Sciences, UK
Compliance and auditing
Conduct regular internal/external audits supported by third parties; embed early-warning systems and risk mapping; involve Legal early on risk assessments and compliance planning.
Technology
Use technology to track compliance, monitor contracts and supply chains, and manage multijurisdictional risk and the co-ordination of global claims.
Cross-practice and trend monitoring
Bring Legal, Risk, PR, and Tech together; monitor litigation trends like the rise of class actions, litigation funding, legaltech/AI, and ADR and update internal processes and procedures, as needed.
Post-dispute evaluation
Take stock after a dispute. Conduct a post-mortem to identify lessons learnt and to help improve future readiness.
Clients often move on too quickly following a dispute. That is understandable given the need to get back to business but a post-mortem is helpful. We always try to sit down with our clients post-resolution and ask: what did we learn, and how can we prepare better next time?
Mark Goorts Partner, Disputes and Investigations, Netherlands
Strategy
Work with Legal to build disputes management into your business strategy from the start and implement litigation life cycle planning early on for major transactions and partnerships.
Training
Provide regular training across risk areas, including compliance risks, contract management, early-warning systems, dispute resolution handling (such as document governance and legal privilege), incident response, and crisis communications.
Insurance
Review portfolios (D&O, product liability, business interruption) to ensure alignment with evolving risks and innovation.
Due diligence
Strengthen supply chain questionnaires, third-party audits, and contractual protections.
When people are under commercial pressure to get deals done, they risk skipping over key clauses… Later, when the contract is being picked apart in a dispute, they ask: ‘How did we agree to this?'
Ryan Ferry Partner, Disputes and Investigations, Ireland
Crisis planning
Update and stress-test incident response plans and ensure alignment with reputation management and PR; 51% currently lack crisis preparation.
It’s not just about spending money – it’s about spending it wisely to safeguard the future of the organisation.
Philippe Glaser Partner, Disputes and Investigations, France
Horizon scanning
Monitor regulatory shifts, use AI/tech, and engage Legal early to assess scope (only 29% do so at the strategic stage).
Even the most sophisticated businesses are struggling with regulatory overload. They're asking: how does it apply to our business, how do we prioritise, and how do we prepare for what’s coming? The advent of AI is an opportunity to address that challenge and – in our experience – adopting innovative horizon scanning tools is an increasingly essential exercise.
Alison Dennis Partner, Life Sciences, UK
Compliance and auditing
Conduct regular internal/external audits supported by third parties; embed early-warning systems and risk mapping; involve Legal early on risk assessments and compliance planning.
Technology
Use technology to track compliance, monitor contracts and supply chains, and manage multijurisdictional risk and the co-ordination of global claims.
Cross-practice and trend monitoring
Bring Legal, Risk, PR, and Tech together; monitor litigation trends like the rise of class actions, litigation funding, legaltech/AI, and ADR and update internal processes and procedures, as needed.
Post-dispute evaluation
Take stock after a dispute. Conduct a post-mortem to identify lessons learnt and to help improve future readiness.
Clients often move on too quickly following a dispute. That is understandable given the need to get back to business but a post-mortem is helpful. We always try to sit down with our clients post resolution and ask: what did we learn, and how can we prepare better next time?
Mark Goorts Partner, Disputes and Investigations, Netherlands
Dispute readiness = resilience and agility. By embedding legal foresight into structure, culture, process, information, and leadership, businesses move from reacting to disputes to using them strategically.
The point in time to bring someone in with contentious expertise is very important… We see many cases where a valid claim is lost because the right person wasn’t notified at the right time.
Philipp Behrendt Partner, Disputes and Investigations, Germany
As a business, you don't always want to avoid disputes. A dispute can be a perfectly reasonable commercial strategy – particularly when they are anticipated, planned for, and aligned with commercial objectives.
Giles Crown Partner, Intellectual Property, Media and Regulatory, UK
Beyond the Horizon: Disputes Reimagined