The COVID-19 pandemic has raised issues of force majeure (Unforeseeable risk or circumstances that keep you from completing a contract) in a wide range of businesses, prominently including manufacturing, where parties are encountering sharp disruptions both as buyers and as sellers. The pandemic also differs fundamentally from the “usual” sort of force majeure event, in that it is global and persistent. These differences have implications for the effects of the event, the legal and practical positions of clients, and the options for management of disruptions to maintain working relationships where possible and optimize the client’s position in the event of a dispute.