If you are writing a contract, you should really make sure that its terms are simple and effective. You need to ask: do both parties understand what it does? what is it meant to do? does it actually do? when would it apply? how does it transfer risk? Lessons from
Many years ago, I sat in Ed’s diner at Euston Station (London) waiting for my train. I was chatting to my sister and she challenged me to write a contract in just 500 words. In a rash moment I agreed, and being a woman of my word, I had to
There are five legal essentials for a contract in English law: Offer: a promise to do something Acceptance: a nod, handshake, email or other action which accepts that offer (it has to be a ‘yes‘ (or ‘hell, yes‘) rather than a ‘yes, but…‘) Consideration: price, exchanged services or anything of
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
A good speech is like a skirt – it should be short enough to be interesting and long enough to cover the essentials… Churchill The same is true of a good contract. Short enough to be read. Long enough to cover the essentials. In the construction industry, we have (2018)
One of the wonders of English is the rich nuances our language permits. That richness, combined with modern usage – whether legal or otherwise – also creates confusion. A major issue for drafters and interpreters of legal documents is the use and abuse of mandatory and permissive verbs. Mandatory verbs
One of the hardest items in a contract to draft effectively is any limit on your liability. Some of the reasons are: they get a lot of focus in the courts who interpret them strictly i.e. the court will only allow you to rely on a limit if it is
Too often, when negotiating contracts or revising T&C for a client, no-one really knows why a clause is there or what it is meant to do (like the architect with his net contribution clause), or what values their contract is trying to portray. I rarely come across these sort of
As a supplier on a construction project, English law allows you to use The Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 to pass on some of the losses claimed against you. You can ask for a contribution from any other contractor, supplier or consultant who is responsible for the same damage [see
A bond is a contract which allows the recipient (the employer) to bring a claim against the bondsman (a bank or insurance company) if a ‘trigger event’ occurs during the construction project. The precise rules for bringing a claim depend on the words of the bond itself. Getting paid under