The first stage for reviewing a contract is to read it. Best practice, as set out in Which Contract? suggests that you ‘study its contents and understand its implications’. Some of you do not read your contracts: you let them gather dust. If you don’t read your contract, it goes
Recently I came across a contact who had a standard footer on her emails, not about saving the environment but that ‘Any offers made in an email or attachments are subject to contract.’ It’s not just the lawyers who throw caution to the wind and bandy about ‘subject to contract’.
During the Annual NEC User Group conference, I had a lively twitter debate with Chris Hallam (@ChrisHallamLaw), a Partner at CMS, on the use of NEC3 (the New Engineering Contract, Engineering and Construction Contract, Third edition). From reading between the lines, I don’t think he’s convinced by NEC’s preference for
When is an offer not an offer but the award of a contract? When its a snake in the grass? The TCC recently has to grapple with the rights of the parties under a framework agreement, in unusual circumstances. What is a framework agreement? A framework agreement normally allows an
Can you amend a bonded (or guaranteed) contract without the beneficiary losing its rights to claim under the associated bond? This was the decision of the Court of Appeal in Hackney Empire v Aviva which has received more coverage than most bond cases. Is it because the case decided a
With any bond and all guarantees, it is imperative that the document continues to provide a form of surety throughout the life of a project. That means the document has to continue to bite even where there are changes to the project: whether that is changes to the scope, the
A few years ago, a developer (Gubbins) appointed an engineering firm (Grimes) for a housing development. Grimes agreed to design a road and the drainage, and obtain the relevant s38 agreement (for adoption of the road by the local authority). That work had to be completed by March 2007. It
What should your contracts try and do? My 500-word contracts are designed to build trust, and safeguard your business without annoying your clients. Being Too Literal One of the concerns of any person writing a contract is to ensure that the contract is interpreted as the parties intend. Not just
Imagine you own a patisserie in London and part of your shopfront falls onto a passing pedestrian (a whole family of them). If you had recently had works done to your shopfront then, as the shopowner who is good with patisserie and not really a connoisseur of construction, you might
You may have heard that under English laws, individuals and companies have ‘freedom to contract’. But what does that jargon mean? Freedom to contract has several aspects: you can choose whether you enter into a contract, and with which persons (party freedom, or freedom to contract); you can choose the