Side letters and the renewal footnotes nobody forwards
2025-07-19 · Jonah Weiss
#contracts #risk #governance
Side letters accumulate because each renewal introduces a small exception that felt harmless at the time. Two years later, nobody remembers which email thread carried the binding language.
Create a single annex index keyed by vendor and renewal date. When new language arrives, require a pointer to the annex slot before internal sign-off. The friction is intentional: it trades a few minutes now for days saved during audits.
This editorial note is not legal advice. It is a workflow observation we see repeatedly in marketplace intakes.