In-house teams can’t control global volatility, but they can control how they prepare for it. This article explores the practical steps discussed at our annual In-house lawyer event, S&B Activate 2025. They are designed to build stability, confidence and momentum amid uncertainty.

We may be getting used to operating a volatile world, but that doesn’t make it easier to manage. At S&B Activate 2025, attendees felt positive about their own business performance, but far more cautious about the broader landscape, with political change named as the biggest concern for the year ahead.

In-house lawyers are under pressure to stay steady while everything around them shifts. But rather than predicting the next disruption, the conversation turned to something more practical. How do you build a firm legal foundation from which businesses can grow?

Contracts that flex

In today’s climate, contracts aren’t just about documenting a deal, they’re about protecting it. Tariffs are being used as political tools, conflicts are pushing up prices, and sanctions can freeze cross-border payments overnight. The most resilient businesses are drafting contracts that can absorb disruption rather than break under pressure.

Our experts highlighted shorter terms, clearer termination triggers and price-review clauses that work in practice as essential tools.

When asked how often people in their business consider that they’ve formed a binding agreement without a signed contract, nearly 80% of the in-house lawyers in the audience answered “sometimes” or “regularly.” It underscores the value of clear, robust terms that can withstand strain.

As Jeremy Kelly, Senior Associate, said, “In a volatile market, contracts need the ability to absorb shock.”

Key takeaways:

• Build flexibility into agreements through shorter terms and review mechanisms.
  These give you room to adjust when costs shift or conditions change, without reopening the entire deal.
• Make price clauses usable in practice. Ensure your price-review mechanism is simple to trigger, defines what evidence is needed and can be operated quickly when costs rise or market conditions shift.
• Build in responses to real-world pressures. Think through likely pressure points upfront, such as cost volatility, supply disruption and financial stress on counterparties. Setting out how each will be handled reduces friction later.

Staying ahead of insolvency risk

Counterparty insolvency remains a concern. When asked how they best protect themselves against insolvency, 58% of attendees chose “effective credit control” over tightening up contractual protections or key client monitoring.

But confidence in contractual protections still varies and early intervention is crucial, as post-COVID insolvency rules prevent suppliers from ending contracts simply because a customer enters insolvency. Suppliers are also unable to rely on breaches of contract that arose pre-insolvency to terminate once their counterparty has entered an insolvency process.

This makes monitoring, due diligence and pre-insolvency termination rights more critical than ever.

“Parties can no longer simply rely on insolvency to terminate” said Lucy Trott, Managing Associate, Restructuring & Insolvency. “You need to watch out for early warning signs and take pre-emptive measures.”

Key takeaways:

• Tighten credit control and shorten payment terms. Simple steps like advance credit checks, shorter payment terms and quicker invoicing cycles can provide early warning signs of financial difficulty, enabling suppliers to terminate sooner and therefore materially reduce exposure.
• Check standard contract terms reflect current restrictions on insolvency termination rights. Clauses drafted before 2020 in contracts for the supply of goods or services may no longer provide effective termination rights, so ensure they’re compliant and still provide real protection.
• Build in pre-insolvency termination rights. These give you lawful ways to pause supply or reshape terms before a customer enters a formal insolvency

Start with enforcement, not just the deal terms

Planning ahead for how you might enforce a judgment against defaulting contract party is often overlooked. Many in-house teams told us they tend to focus on enforcement only after a dispute is underway, rather than at the point of negotiation.

The 2019 Hague Convention (for court judgments) and the New York Convention (for arbitration) make it easier to enforce judgments overseas. However, planning ahead is still key. To give yourself the best chance of successful enforcement, careful thought should be given to the location of assets and the governing law and jurisdiction applicable to the contract.

As Sophie Ashcroft, Partner in Commercial Litigation, put it: “You can negotiate the best commercial deal in the world, but if you can’t enforce it where it matters, it won’t protect you. Always give early thought to enforcement .”

Key takeaways:

• Align governing law and jurisdiction choices with enforcement realities. Choose forums where judgments or awards can actually be enforced against the assets that matter.
• Consider where counterparties’ assets are held before signing the deal. This shapes whether court litigation or arbitration will give you the best enforcement outcome.
• Use arbitration where speed and cross-border enforceability are priorities. It often offers more predictable routes to recovery in complex international relationships.

Governance under pressure

Governance readiness is another area where preparation sometimes lags behind awareness. For the new Companies House ID verification requirement, 53% of the audience said they had made a start but not completed the process. Given that 18 November is only the start of the mandatory period, this is not a bad effort. For the new failure to prevent fraud offence, most attendees had begun to think about this, describing themselves as partially prepared but not confident.

As James Evison, Partner in Commercial Litigation, explained: “With the new fraud offence, putting in place prevention measures isn’t necessarily about doing everything. It’s about doing what’s reasonable in all the circumstances and being able to demonstrate it clearly.”

Key takeaways:

• Ensure ID verification for directors and Persons of Significant Control is progressed, not parked. Delays create crunch moments that are harder to fix once filing deadlines loom.
• Carry out fraud-risk assessments, update fraud prevention policies and communicate them to your people. You need real-world controls — not policies that sit on a shelf.
• Keep records that demonstrate compliance, not just intent. Training logs, decision and communication trails, board minutes and audit notes may  make the difference between compliance and exposure.

Control builds confidence

Uncertainty isn’t going away. But control is still possible, and the in-house lawyers at S&B Activate felt that shift. By the end of the event, attendees said they were leaving with a clearer idea of their priority actions for the year ahead.

Control isn’t about waiting for stability. It’s about creating systems that adapt and being ready to pivot.

Key takeaways:

• Don’t wait for predictability, plan for volatility.
• Embed control into contracts, governance and supplier relationships.
• Strengthen small, everyday processes. That’s where resilience is built.

Legal advice you can act on

For guidance on strengthening your control across contracts, governance or credit processes, please get in touch with your S&B contact or a member of our commercial, corporate, dispute resolution or restructuring and insolvency teams.