Author: Sarah Fox

Simplest is best

As the judge in Twintec v Volkerfitzpatrick said: As with so many things, the simplest solution is often the best When you next write a collateral warranty, construction contract or letter of intent, keep it simple. The survey of contract users reported in the 1995 Latham Report proposed that simple

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What is your purpose for your letter of intent?

The main problem for writers of letters of intent is that they don’t ask why the parties are using a letter of intent. You may not need a letter of intent at all. What’s your purpose? Is the purpose of your letter to … award the contract for the works

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Avoiding disputes when using letters of intent

There are three elements to avoiding and minimising disputes when you are using a letter of intent. Stepping stone The first is to recognise that a letter of intent is merely the first stage in the contract negotiation process. A letter of intent is a means to an end not

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How can we improve T&C?

The UK government needed your help. They wanted to know your bugbears about T&C, as well as your ideas for improvement. Although legislation (the Consumer Rights Act 2015) requires T&C to be fair and transparent, the law only allows consumers to challenge those that aren’t. It does not provide direct

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Shortest ever letter of intent

Is this the shortest letter of intent you’ll ever need? Less than 500 words, although (admittedly) it is both sides of this bookmark! Find out how you can write and use a 500-word letter of intent in my book. You will learn about the four critical contents, how to avoid

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Which is better: letter of intent or no contract?

Sarah Schutte of Schutte Consulting joined me at a blab debate and discussed whether a letter of intent was better than ‘no contract’. We covered: the requirements for a contract, the critical contents for a workable legally binding letter of intent why bother with a contract, how a letter of

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Review the risk in using a letter of intent

Although there are a number of pitfalls with letters of intent, the key risk is that the full contract is never signed. A letter of intent is used to get the project started quickly, but it is only intended to be a temporary stop-gap. So why don’t the parties get

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A window broken shown against a blue sky. By Skeeze on Pixabay
Sarah Fox

When letters of intent go wrong: the client perspective

A letter of intent is a contract to start a construction project in the form of a letter. It may also confirm the sender’s intention to award the contract for the whole project to the recipient – the contractor. The purpose of a letter of intent is two-fold: (1) to

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Improve your contract writing skills

Everyone prefers plain language – your clients expect and want it from their advisers, their business partners, their regulatory authorities and also from their lawyers. But the skills to write plainly are uncommon, and the tools and techniques need to be learnt and practiced (and bad habits erased). Bad Habits

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