Month: February 2024

Limiting letters of intent

Financial limits in letters of intent are used to protect the client – because they rarely include a fixed price and are relying on ‘reasonable costs’ – and as an incentive for the contractor to sign the full contract.   These limits on the client’s liability to pay for works are

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Using contracts to share risk

The risks on a project, as well as the rewards, need to be shared equitably. Contracts have a significant role to play in what is sometimes referred to as managing with risk ie going ahead with a project while accepting that there will always be a degree of uncertainty… and

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Don’t take it literally

There are two ways that law courts (at least in England) have interpreted contracts: literally and purposefully. The literal approach is the more classic or traditional way of interpreting documents. The problem with the literal approach is that it led contract writers into a number of sins: very detailed drafting

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Sarah Fox

The Dotted Line: The perfect approach

Good fences make good neighbours… and good clear contracting including simple terms make good client relationships.  Read the full edition here Much of what this newsletter discusses is from my conversation with Alan Berg on his podcast. You can listen to our 30-minutes of chat here (or on your preferred platform) or

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Last minute legals

The process for creating contracts is dysfunctional so the language for creating contracts is dysfunctional… [Ken Adams] When time is tight, the only realistic way to record the legal content of the deal is to copy and paste from a similar deal.  But does this really work for the buyer

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