Disputes are one of the few areas where legal risk, financial exposure, reputation, and governance collide in real time.

Handled well, disputes are contained, resolved proportionately, and used to strengthen the organisation.

Handled poorly, they become open-ended drains on time, cost, credibility, and leadership attention.

The GLS Disputes Line exists because disputes cannot be managed as an art form.

They must be designed, governed, and executed as an industrial process.

Most organisations experience disputes, but very few actually manage disputes as a system.

Instead, disputes are often:

◼️Treated as one-off legal problems

◼️Escalated late and under pressure

◼️Handed to external counsel by default

◼️Settled inconsistently

◼️Reported reactively

◼️Accounted for defensively

◼️This is the artisanal model of disputes management — outcomes depend on individuals, instincts, and bespoke handling.

◼️The GLS Disputes Line replaces that with an industrial disputes management model, anchored in clear governance, defined pathways, disciplined cost control, and Board-level visibility.

◼️At the centre of this shift sits a legal department disputes governance policy that gives Legal the authority to intervene early and control outcomes

Disputes do not start at litigation.

They begin as:

◼️Commercial friction

◼️Operational failure

◼️Relationship breakdown

◼️Contractual ambiguity

◼️Conduct or performance issues

The Disputes Line is deliberately designed as a closed loop, covering the full lifecycle:

◼️Preventing disputes through a proactive dispute avoidance strategy

◼️Building early warning and escalation infrastructure so Legal is involved before positions harden

◼️Applying a claim categorisation framework to identify repeatable dispute types

◼️Routing disputes into defined claim management pathways with proportionate quality thresholds

◼️Deploying modern litigation support and e-discovery tools where justified

◼️Enforcing litigation cost and dispute budgeting discipline

◼️Making deliberate, governed decisions through a settlement policy

◼️Maintaining continuous Board-level litigation reporting

◼️Ensuring accurate financial treatment of disputes and provisions

◼️Governing law firms through robust external counsel guidelines for litigation

This is how disputes stop being episodic crises and start being managed enterprise risk.

This distinction matters more in disputes than almost anywhere else in Legal.

Artisanal disputes management looks like:

◼️Every dispute treated as bespoke

◼️Senior lawyers involved by default

◼️External counsel driving strategy

◼️Cost justified retrospectively

◼️Settlements driven by fatigue

◼️Boards surprised by exposure

Industrial disputes management looks like:

◼️Claims categorised early

◼️Different dispute types handled differently

◼️Quality thresholds defined by risk

◼️External counsel governed, not deferred to

◼️Spend aligned to outcomes

◼️Boards continuously informed

The transition from art to industry happens through proportionate dispute handling pathways, not technology alone

Each Station in the Disputes Line is a critical resource enabler. Individually, they strengthen control. Together, they form an operating system.

◼️Group Legal Policy – sets legal authority and disputes governance

◼️Dispute Avoidance Strategy – preventing disputes before litigation

◼️Mitigation Infrastructure – early warning and escalation infrastructure

◼️Claim Categorisation – recognised dispute and claim categories

◼️Claim Management Pathways – proportionate dispute handling pathways

◼️Litigation Support Tools – litigation support and e-discovery tools

◼️Dispute Budgeting – litigation cost and dispute budgeting framework

◼️Settlement Policy – governed settlement decision-making

◼️Litigation Reporting – Board litigation and dispute reporting

◼️Financial Treatment – financial treatment of disputes and provisions

◼️External Service Provider Guidelines – governing law firms in litigation

Disputes are not just legal events.

They affect:

◼️Earnings

◼️Cash flow

◼️Reputation

◼️Board confidence

◼️Executive decision-making

◼️Organisational behaviour

By integrating disciplined settlement outcomes with accurate dispute financial exposure and provisioning the Disputes Line ensures disputes are visible, controllable, and survivable.

For GCs and Heads of Legal, disputes are one of the highest-exposure areas of personal accountability.

The Disputes Line supports:

◼️Fulfilment of GC fiduciary duties in litigation oversight

◼️Stronger control over external counsel behaviour

◼️Fewer surprises

◼️Defensible decisions

◼️Sustainable legal operations

It is the difference between owning disputes and being owned by them.

The GLS Disputes Line is not a checklist.

It is not a technology stack.

It is not a law firm management guide.

It is a reference architecture for how serious organisations manage disputes at scale.

If your disputes still depend on heroics, instinct, and exhaustion — this Line will change how you think about them.

And once you see disputes as a system, you can never unsee it.