Cleary Partners With City Bar Justice Center to Support Small Businesses Navigating Contract Issues During COVID-19

May 21, 2020

Overview

Online

Cleary Gottlieb in partnership with City Bar Justice Center’s Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP) hosted a webinar for small business owners, with a focus on contractual issues related to the performance, breach, and excuse of contractual obligations arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the wake of the crisis, a large number of small businesses will not be able to perform on their contracts, or will find that doing so is extremely burdensome or that their counterparty is no longer willing/able to perform its obligations. 

Cleary counsel Shirley Lo and associates Martha Vega-Gonzalez, Nimat Lawal, and Laura Daugherty, in collaboration with NELP, covered:

  • Contract basics, including but not limited to breach, remedies for breach, and limitations on damages.
  • Key contractual provisions and concepts related to excusing performance, including  force majeure, impossibility, and frustration of purpose.
  • Practical considerations for small business owners, including how to protect their rights and to focus on the probable and practical in negotiations with counterparties.