Contract masterclass webinar series 2024

Rectification of contracts

Topics:

• Rectification of contracts

Speakers:

• Lily Mortimer
• Frances Gourdie

Limitations of liability

Topics:

• The principles and law governing the courts’ approach to limitation of liability clauses;
• Excluding liability for fraud
• Aggregate caps on liability for multiple claims
• Relying on industry standard terms that limit or exclude liability

Speakers:

• Kirsten Kitt
• Abbey Thompson

Notice provisions

Topics:

• Clauses requiring valid notice of breaches of warranty before liability can be established
• The courts’ approach to requirements imposed under such clauses
• Recent decisions of the Court of Appeal on whether notices were valid
• Practical guidance on drafting a notices clause and a compliant notice

Speakers:

• Lily Mortimer
• Eliza Jones

Formation

In this session, we looked at what is needed to form a commercial contract, the point where an exchange of communications can become a binding contract and when online terms and conditions will be adequately brought to a customer’s attention to bind them.

Speakers:

• Oli Macrae
• Mark Uttley

Good faith

In this session, we looked at contractual good faith clauses and the scope of the duty they impose, when a duty of good faith can be implied into an agreement, fiduciary relationships and “relational” contracts – what are they and when do they arise? And drafting tips for good faith clauses

Speakers:

• Jayne Bentham
• Devina Shah

Assignment and novation

In this session, we looked at the differences between novation and assignment, the use of clauses limiting parties’ rights to transfer the benefit and obligations under a contract, the role of “informal novation” and the impact of clauses restricting novation and recent court decisions on post-contract changes of parties

Speakers:

• Jonathan Schuman
• Rika Akimoto

Penalty Clauses

In this session we looked at the test for when a contractual clause will be unenforceable as a penalty clause, a recent Court of Appeal decision applying the principles and key practical points to consider when drafting clauses specifying the consequences of a breach of contract.

Speakers:

• Chloe Morris
• David Bridge

Force majeure and reasonable endeavours

In this session, we looked at the law on force majeure and when parties can be excused from performance of their obligations, the meaning of “reasonable endeavours” and common variations of this wording, and a Supreme Court case on the scope of an obligation to use reasonable endeavours to stop a force majeure event preventing performance of a contract.

Speakers:

• Jonathan Spencer
• William Dunning

Breach, repudiation and termination

In this session, we looked at when does a breach of contract entitle a counterparty to terminate? The consequences of purportedly terminating a contract on wrongful grounds, whether a party preventing performance by a counterparty can terminate and d drafting termination provisions: the dos and don’ts

Speakers:

• Adam Brown
• Caitlin Lloyd