I've talked in other posts about various departments with which Purchasing interacts frequently including Accounting and Receiving. Another department that deserves its own post is Legal.
When I worked at a large company, I was very fortunate to work with outstanding lawyers on all my contracts. They were intelligent, knowledgeable, and personable. They were always willing to take the extra time to explain the various terms or ramifications of phrasing things a certain way in a contract.
If I had any complaints about the lawyers handling the contracts, it was just that they sometimes took too long. To be fair, my expectations of time to complete a task are quite high. I'm one of those people who won't leave until I have finished everything that I can possibly do that day on all my assignments.
Still, having a contract held up in Legal for a week or two is really unacceptable considering that it may have to go back and forth between Legal and Purchasing several times. The same thing happens on the vendor side with it going back and forth between Sales and Legal. However, in my experience, the lawyers on the vendor's side have usually been much quicker than those on my side. That explains why negototiations sometimes drag on for months.
Here's an interesting anecdote to end this post. I knew at least four people who were Buyers and earned their law degrees, but I never knew anyone who started out as a lawyer and then got into Purchasing!
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