The old attorney who taught me about handshake deals

Back in 1998, a lawyer named Mr. Jenkins told me he'd done a million-dollar deal on a handshake in a diner in Cleveland and never had a problem. He said the key was looking the other person in the eye and trusting your gut, which sounds crazy now but it stuck with me.

2 comments

2 Comments

rowanw9122h ago

Didn't he ever run into someone who shook on a deal and then backed out the next day? A handshake only works if both people have the same values about keeping their word, and that's pretty rare. Gut feelings can be useful, but they don't hold up in court when someone decides to break the deal.

park.aaron21h ago

Did this actually happen to you once, or are you talking about a story you heard from someone else? I'm curious how often you see handshake deals fall apart in your line of work.