---
id: "quote-market-standard-terms"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Don't Negotiate Every Material Issue"]
tags: ["legal-strategy", "efficiency"]
related: ["concept-market-standard-default"]
speaker: "Anonymous law firm partner"
quote: "I always tell my clients that if they want to save on legal fees with no real loss in value or extra risk exposure, let us start at 'market-standard terms' for the majority of the issues."
sources: ["ecosystem"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-ecosystem"
originDay: 11
articleStem: "hbr-nm-103-big-companies-negotiate-deals"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/why-big-companies-struggle-to-negotiate-great-deals"
sourceTitle: "Why Big Companies Struggle to Negotiate Great Deals"
---
# Defaulting to Market Standards

> "I always tell my clients that if they want to save on legal fees with no real loss in value or extra risk exposure, let us start at 'market-standard terms' for the majority of the issues."
> — Anonymous partner at a top-20 global law firm

Practitioner endorsement of [[concept-market-standard-default]]: default most issues to market standards to save resources without losing value, reserving hard negotiation for the few high-variance terms. (Speaker anonymous; no entity note.)