Category: The Dotted Line

Why does the world need another book? The last book in my series on Construction Contracts in Just 500 Words was published on 5 November – to reflect the UK tradition of putting rockets up the establishment. I’m not trying to blow up Parliament as Guido Fawkes was, but merely prompting the

Autumn here brings me a new cohort of students who are starting the University of Salford’s Masters in Construction Law. I am the tutor for the first module, on English contract law and we have been discussing the requirements for a contract. It never ceases to surprise me how often

Do you fail to plan the next steps once you’ve agreed a deal in principle? Even if you do (and congratulate yourself for having plans), just as in war: no plan survives first contact with the other side. Your processes for converting a sale or completing a deal need to reflect

The art of communicating is not just about being understood, but about ensuring you cannot possibly be misunderstood. I once asked my older sister to bring crackers to contribute to Christmas lunch – she bought biscuits for cheese but I was expecting decorated tubes with a bang, hat, joke and

How many times are you about to seal a deal when someone pops up with ‘and if I can just get you to sign here, here and here…’ without even giving you a chance to read what you’re signing? Or you start work and find that your invoice can’t be

It’s not enough to have great content if you don’t provide it at the time you are completing a deal – don’t sabotage your good intentions by leaving it too late. After all, once your content is great you don’t have to hide it any more. Read the full edition

After 26 editions on improving your contract content, you may be wondering what’s next. It’s not enough to have great content if you never get it agreed. There are so many stages of the contracting process that it is relatively common to sabotage your good intentions. Read the full edition

Last time I encouraged you to have terms which were uniquely yours. I’m not sure whether ‘brand you’ requires a document which is zany, zealous, zephyrous, zesty or zooty…  Read the full edition here How did I go from Little Miss Worry to a little more zen? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAp4qmMx_Sw&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=SarahFox

Welcome to 500 Words! We can’t wait to start working with you This is the opening line in my fabulous new proposal. It’s not a contract as such, but as it contains my services, fees and terms, if a potential client approves it then it will form the basis of

As you know, I am not one to shy away from challenging the accepted norms – otherwise I would never have introduced the concept of the 500-word contract! In another break from the norm, I am using my A to Z of positive contract attributes to (re)introduce the word ‘xenial’