"Always get everything in writing. They offer you a verbal deal? Say not until we both sign it and its on paper. "
In cases where this can't be done or isn't practical the next best thing is being able to provide contemporaneous notes of conversations, dates and times with people you have spoken to. I don't mean to be a little old lady "what is your name?" or anything like that.
I've used these many times in the past (not in court because it never got to that) in order to get something from a higher up by building a credible case and trail of evidence. This is known as "memorializing" that is you take and keep notes which you can use at a later date.
This is not simply "well I spoke to Fred J. and he told me that..." it's keeping complete track of back and forth with various individuals and interactions what they said and when. Many times someone higher up will simply judge whether the events could have happened [1] and the person on the other side will not have exact notes (why would they?). In any case it has worked for me.
And if it gets to court you have at least a leg to stand on, sound like you have your act together, and can present at least a cohesive case of your version of the events.
[1] Edit: Important that you don't exaggerate. The person higher up will judge the validity of the entire exchanges by whether they feel the lower level person would possibly promise or say what you claim. The more it sounds like what you said happens could have happened the more likely you are to get what you want in the end.
If I have difficulty getting a written agreement, I send a brief (my memorandum of what I think we've agreed) by email and follow-up with a phone call asking if that is what we've agreed. I can then immediately summarise the phone call in an email message that forwards the brief together with something like "great to hear that's OK, I'll be starting this afternoon", or some such.
Not that I have had to put this to the legal test, but there is then this sort of written documentation, accessible to both parties, of what has been agreed and when. Having everything in an email folder is easier for me than keeping a log book.
Agree and I actually do the same thing. Follow up with an email summarizing the conversation and key points. Get a reply from the person acknowledging. Not bullet proof but definitely a leg to stand on.
As far as "legal test" things rarely make it to court (even with contracts). At the point that's happened you've already lost. They are normally settled before that for anything of a small nature. Anything larger (and it's hard to define small but I know it when I see it) needs a contract.
In cases where this can't be done or isn't practical the next best thing is being able to provide contemporaneous notes of conversations, dates and times with people you have spoken to. I don't mean to be a little old lady "what is your name?" or anything like that.
I've used these many times in the past (not in court because it never got to that) in order to get something from a higher up by building a credible case and trail of evidence. This is known as "memorializing" that is you take and keep notes which you can use at a later date.
This is not simply "well I spoke to Fred J. and he told me that..." it's keeping complete track of back and forth with various individuals and interactions what they said and when. Many times someone higher up will simply judge whether the events could have happened [1] and the person on the other side will not have exact notes (why would they?). In any case it has worked for me.
And if it gets to court you have at least a leg to stand on, sound like you have your act together, and can present at least a cohesive case of your version of the events.
[1] Edit: Important that you don't exaggerate. The person higher up will judge the validity of the entire exchanges by whether they feel the lower level person would possibly promise or say what you claim. The more it sounds like what you said happens could have happened the more likely you are to get what you want in the end.