Contract Law for Business Open Course
'Very pleasant and knowledgeable speaker. The course has helped me to understand the complexities of a legal contract.'
Oxana Mateciuc, Earls Court & Olympia
'A complex subject delivered extremely well! Very well balanced for a one-day course.'
Lawrence Baxter, Terberg DTS
Date
No dates at the moment. Please check again at the start of August 2008.
Duration
1 day
Cost
£349 + VAT
Venue
The Lion Court Conference Centre, London, WC1
Timings
09.00 Coffee and Registration
09.30 Start
17.00 Close
Booking
Course Brochure
CLICK HERE to download a brochure.
What is this course about?
Every contract holds risks and benefits. Are you equipped to recognise them? When a problem or dispute arises with a business arrangement, all too often the solution is found hidden in the 'small-print' that governs every commercial transaction. The words used in a contract, can have important legal consequences, one way or the other, if we do not take precautions. If we are not careful we may get ourselves into the wrong contract. In an unguarded comment we may vouch for what we do not intend or cannot deliver. We may even fail to recognise that one of the fundamental elements for a legal contract is missing.
Any party involved in a contract is both exposed to the risks but can also reap the potential benefits from the agreement. An understanding of the basic rules will equip us to avoid the potential legal or commercial pitfalls in our contracts.
To avoid or minimise legal risks, or to gain the benefits of a transaction, executives responsible for negotiating or managing the contract must have a practical appreciation of contract law, what it requires and forbids.
This one day course is designed to give business executives a thorough practical understanding of the rules that regulate the formation and enforcement of commercial contracts.
Who would benefit?
- Contract managers / officers
- Commercial managers / officers
- Marketing managers
- Managing directors
- Project managers / engineers
- Business development managers
- Financial directors
- Buyers
Objectives
By the end of this course, you will:-
- Gain a tighter grasp of the principles & practice of contract law
- Be much better placed to negotiate from a position of strength
- Considerably lessen the chances of falling into damaging contractual traps and pitfalls
- Will be taking a major step towards securing the profitability of each contract they negotiate
Course Programme
09.30 - 09.45 Introduction
09.45 - 10.30 Inviting tenders and making offers
- Invitations and firm offers
- Wording of invitation
- Specifying the goods or services
- 'Trawling' for information by inviting tenders
10.30 - 11.00 Making a contract (Part 1)
- Agreements and contracts
- Agreements 'subject to contract'
- Letters of comfort or intent
- Form of contract
- Authority and signatures
- Terms of a contract
- Warranties
- Guarantees
- Indemnities
- Representations, covenants, etc.
11.00 - 11.15 Coffee
11.15 - 12.00 Making a contract (Part 2)
- Authority and signatures
- Terms of a contract:-
- Warranties
- Guarantees
- Indemnities
- Representations, covenants, etc.
12.00 - 13.00 Performance of contract
- What does the contract require?
- Delays and force majeure
- Dates and time of the essence
13.00 - 14.00 Lunch
14.00 - 15.00 Non-performance and breach of contract
- Justifiable non-performance
- Legal significance of a 'conditions'
- Compensatory damages and liquidated damages
- Penalties and liquidated damages
15.00 - 15.15 Tea
15.15 - 16.15 Defences to alleged breach of contract
- No contract
- No breach
- Misrepresentation
- Economic duress
- Mistake
16.15 - 17.00 Disclaimers and limitations
- How exemption terms become part of a contract
- Unfair disclaimers and limitations
17.00 Close
Training Consultant
Noel Byrne
Prior to starting his consulting career, Noel held the position of Senior Fellow in Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary College Centre for Commercial Law Studies, University of London. He also holds the position Senior Visiting Fellow in International and Comparative Patent Law at the University of Melbourne (Australia), where he lectures on international and comparative patent law.
Before qualifying as a lawyer in 1975, he worked for ten years as an engineer and engineering manager in the electronics industry, where he specialised in aircraft flight systems. He advises several major companies and research organisations on intellectual property law, including technology licensing and R&D contracts. Noel has written widely in academic and practice journals on issues concerning intellectual property law, particularly patents for biological entities and materials, technology licensing law, and European and US competition law.
