Norman M. Powell of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP and Jonathan C. Lipson of Temple University Beasley Schhol of Law co-authored “Contracting COVID: Private Order and Public Good (Standstills),” published in the Business Lawyer (Vol. 76, Spring 2021), the business law journal of the ABA's Business Law Section (subscription required), and is also available for download on SSRN. The article discusses the role that ex ante contracting, specifically standstill/forbearance agreements (“SFAs”), can play in ameliorating the commercial costs of COVID or similar future calamities.
From the abstract:
The novel Coronavirus (2019) (COVID) has created a dilemma: Open the economy and spread disease; quarantine and choke the economy. Thus far, the response has looked to government for health-safety standards and financial subsidies. Although these are necessary steps, they have become politicized, thereby exacerbating severe uncertainties created by the pandemic. While we will surely halt it, we do not know how, when, or what comes next.