Business and Contract Law

Sample Programme - Day 1

Effective contract negotiation

• Preparing for negotiation
• Developing winning strategies
• Understanding the rules negotiation and culture
• Improving your communication skills
• Mapping routes to agreement

Offer and acceptance

• Defining the number of offers that can be on the table at any time
• Understanding what is a counter offer
• Examining what constitutes acceptance

Tools, techniques and terminology when creating a formal contract

• Informal contracts
• Standard terms
• Letters of intent
• Memorandum of Understanding
• Enforceable contracts

Getting to grips with how the law changes what you thought you had agreed to

• What are implied terms and where do you use them
• Working within government restrictions
• What is good faith and making it benefit your organisation
• Misrepresentation
• International convention

Understanding and effective drafting payment obligations

• Advance/stage payments
• Retention monies
• The role of bonds
• Credit insurance
• Letters of credit

Including constructive performance obligations

• Specific performance
• Condition precedents
• Delivery
• Force majeure
• The Doctrine of Frustration

Implications of law and regulations for international agreements

• Incoterms
• Personnel
• Price and payment terms
• Disputes
• Exporting

When things go wrong – Limit contractual risk for your organisation

• Identifying the areas of potential claims
• Examining claims in contract
• Examining claims in tort
• What are the claims under other headings
• Insurance

PRACTICAL DRAFTING EXERCISE
In this session participants will draft contract terms based on the skills and knowledge developed during the day under the guidance of experts

Sample Programme - Day 2

Making defences to breach of contract

• Misrepresentation
• Duress
• Mistake
• Negligent misstatement

Termination – Understanding how and when contracts end

• Duration
• Liquidation
• Change of control

Successfully resolving contractual disputes

• Drafting key provisions to minimise the risk of disputes
• ADR clauses
• Arbitration – institutional or ad hoc

The impact of EU competition law

• What the rules say
• Prohibited agreements
• Areas to watch – pricing; quantity restriction
• Market sharing; public procurement rules; joint buying & selling
• When the rules apply – De Minimis
• Horizontal and vertical agreements
• The role of the Block Exemptions

PRACTICAL DRAFTING EXERCISE
In this session participants will practice drafting contract terms and practical receive advise and guidance of how they can develop in this area.

Some typical agreements
This session will review the terms and conditions of some typical agreements to illustrate how to avoid the legal pitfalls and challenges faced

• Service
• Supply
• Manufacture
• Licensing

• General provisions
• Confidentiality
• Costs
• Assignment
• Notices
• Law of the contract