According to a Brief History of Cunning (podcast), Machiavelli said: one must be a fox to recognise traps and a lion to recognise wolves This struck a chord because as a contracts expert, one of my services is to review contracts on behalf of contractor and specialist subcontractors to identify
Having considered the importance of clarity and records in avoiding disputes (both easier said than done), Susannah’s last post reviews the role of contract clauses that set out a series of dispute resolution options. These are tiered procedures, hence their nickname ‘wedding cake clauses’. Although you cannot avoid a dispute
Having considered how a clear contract can help you avoid disputes, Susannah Lee, an expert disputes solicitor, looks at how disputes can be won and lost with records. Records are an essential (if boring) part of contract management. Max Abrahamson wrote A party to a dispute… will learn three lessons
In the first of series of 3 posts, Susannah Lee, an expert disputes solicitor, looks at how clarity in your contract can help avoid disputes – which cause long term damage to your skilfully nurtured business relationships. Construction projects are prone to disputes because of their technical, procedural and managerial
My talk at the 2017 CoMIT Conference drew parallels between banking and construction because banking was based on trust (hence the term ‘rich as Croesus’ as he mastered the art of trustworthy coins as tools to stimulate commerce in Lydia). The former chair of JCT said we cannot move to
Although 86% of the audience at the 2017 CoMIT Conference did not think language was the biggest barrier to digital contracts, we cannot automate our current contracts. The problems include: Jargon: the legal language is one-sided and full of jargon so the obligations are not universally understood within our industry,
At the 2017 CoMIT conference, I proposed that the three barriers to moving towards digital contracts were technology, language and conduct. Unsurprisingly for an audience attending a conference on the construction opportunities for mobile IT, 75% said technology would be the first barrier to digital contracts that we successfully remove
To work out whether works, goods or services are ‘extra’ ie a change to the original scope, you need to know (1) the extent of the original scope as well as (2) how your contract defines changes/variations/extras – this can be pretty wide (eg JCT), narrow (MF/1), or non-existent (NEC).
Although we have had enforceable contracts in English law for 150+ years, the process by which they are formed remains something of a mystery. Our contract processes have been called ‘haphazard’, our approach ‘cavalier’, and we get stuck in endless games of email contract tennis. One way to resolve some
The 2018 TSB online banking saga has once again highlighted the issue of wriggle room in contracts. Wriggling in court Before specialising in advising on contract strategy and writing/negotiating contracts, I had the pleasure of winning a case in the Court of Appeal. It involved what I call ‘advanced wriggling.’