Contract law - in-depth

Contract law in depth Overview
This comprehensive two-day programme has been designed to give non-legal audiences a good understanding of English contract law and its practical application in a business context. It will help all those dealing with customers or suppliers avoid exposing your organisation to undue legal risk.
Format
This comprehensive two-day course is based around a mix of formal presentations from the expert trainer and practical case studies. There is ample opportunity for participants to raise issues of particular concern to them.
Special features
This course can be tailored to the specific needs of your particular organisation, to take into account such factors as industry sector (eg, construction contracts are very different from consumer contracts), use of standard forms and nature of business (eg, international contracts need to be approached in a very different way).
The expert trainer
Chris is a solicitor who has been running his own practice for more than ten years. Formerly an in-house lawyer with George Wimpey plc and before that with Costain Group plc, he has extensive hands-on experience of the practical problems faced by businesses and has many years of experience in training non-legal audiences in contract and commercial law. A fully accredited and practising adjudicator, he has a particular expertise in building and construction contracts and has for many years lectured on a part-time basis to post-graduate engineering students at Kingston University.
Course outline
DAY ONE

1. Formation of contract
   • Tenders
   • Qualifying tenders
   • Letters of intent
   • Fraudulent and innocent misrepresentation
   • Complete contract clauses
   • Side letters
   • Formal legal requirements
2. Jurisdiction and governing law
   • Jurisdiction clauses
   • Governing law clauses
   • EU rules
   • Arbitration
   • Outline of enforcement
   • Power of Courts to intervene
3. Express and implied terms
   • Proof
   • Classification
   • Construction
4. Exemption and limitation clauses
   • Differences between consumer and commercial contracts
   • Unfair Contract Terms Act
   • Force majeure
5. Capacity of parties
   • Corporations, including companies
   • Crown and foreign states
   • Personal capacity
6. Agency
   • Types of agency
   • Liability of principal and agent

DAY TWO

1. Consideration
   • Executed
   • Executory
   • Past
2. Mistake
   • Effect on validity of contract
3. Illegality and public policy
   • Severance of contract
   • Restraint of trade
4. Assignment and novation
   • Need for consent to assign or novate
   • Effect of assignment or novation
5. Partnerships, joint ventures and joint obligations
   • Joint and several liability
   • Limited liability partnerships
   • Incorporating joint ventures
6. Third party rights
   • Privity and Effect of Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act
   • Guarantees and indemnities
7. Limitation and remedies for breach of contract
   • Six and twelve year limitation periods
   • Effect of the Latent Damage Act
   • Possibility of a contracting party having other liabilities
   • Damages
   • Declarations
   • Injunctions
   • Specific performance
   • Rescission
   • Enforcement of arbitrators' / adjudicators' awards
8. Conflict of laws
   • Difference between procedural and substantive laws and effect on aspects of litigation
9. Mediation
   • Objectives
   • Need for any outcome agreement to be in an enforceable format