On a simple house refurbishment project in Putney, London, Mr & Mrs West ended up with an extended house with no proper waterproofing, serious defects in the plumbing and all the newly installed M&E services needing replacing. Disaster! When planning and creating their contracts that the clients were failed by
What should be the contractor’s remedy when a subcontractor is running late? Under freedom to contract, the parties can decide their rights, remedies, obligations and liabilities – they are masters of their contractual fate. The choice is between recovering an uncertain amount provided you can prove breach and loss in
A smart contract means a ‘computer protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract.’ [source] From this definition, a smart contract is just the code – it has been said that it is neither smart nor a contract! More recently, the Law Commission
One of the key problems with contracts is knowing how and when to use them effectively. This decision should be part of a clear contract strategy. Even if you don’t have a mature contract strategy, any strategy is better than hope! As fellow speaker and internet marketing expert, Ian Brodie,
One of my favourite standard forms is MF/1 the IET Model Form of Contract for the design, supply and installation of electrical, electronic and mechanical plant. It is clear, logically ordered and user-friendly. [It used to be printed on pink paper but that’s not why I like it.] This post
Following my recent webinar for the IChemE Special Interest Group, I ended up debating the relative merits of the IChemE Professional Services Contract (Short Form, 2015) and the IET/IMechE MF/4. This post outlines some of the aspects you need to consider when choosing MF/4 as part of your contract strategy.
Following my recent webinar for the IChemE Special Interest Group, I was asked to comment on their new Professional Services Contract (Short Form, 2015). The IChemE PSC Short Form was published to provide the IChemE’s members with a ‘standard form’ consultancy agreement for services of a “relatively low contract price
If you want to get paid on time, without deductions, then you need to take a strategic approach during all three key stages of contract inception, contract creation and contract operation. Plan for it Before you agree to enter into a contract with a client, you should check out whether
Stephen R Covey’s 7 Habits are principles to help you become highly effective. There are astonishing parallels with my specialist area of law – contracts. In brief, the first six of the 7 habits can be summarised as ‘make and keep a promise’ and ‘involve others and work out a
To make letters of intent really work for you, you need a fast but fool-proof process. There are two critical stages: what you do before you send a letter of intent and what you do after. Before you send it You should check whether the letter of intent you need