In 1657, mathematician Blaise Pascal commented in a letter to his church leaders “I have made this longer than usual because I did not have time to make it shorter.” More than 100 years later, another Frenchman, Napoleon Bonaparte, offered a similar remark to his valet as he prepared to head out for battle. “Dress me slowly,” he said, “I’m in a hurry.” The irony of the quotations makes people smile, but few quibble with their underlying truthfulness. Often, the more in a hurry you are, the more you need to slow down.

Over the past six weeks, businesses across the country have been in a hurry. Sales leaders are rushing to find innovative ways to preserve revenue in the face of a shuttered economy courtesy of COVID-19. Contracts Managers are dusting off terms and conditions they had all but forgotten about prior to the pandemic. HR teams are figuring out how to deal with unplanned furloughs and/or layoffs. And in-house counsel are working nonstop to make sense of an endless stream of new statutes, executive orders, regulations, directives, and guidelines from federal, state, and local officials...