It seems there is no escaping the football. I’ve come to the FIDIC International Contract Users’ Conference 2010, being held in Beijing this week, for my routine update on the federation’s standard form publishing and training efforts. Now, one might expect that given China’s national team are not a feature of a certain international football tournament taking place in South Africa, Beijing might be the place to get away from the current hysteria gripping those among the human race who are privileged enough to have access to a television that screens the football. Well, for good or ill, one would be wrong. read more »

The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding cases regarding arbitration at (for them) a furious pace recently, and the latest decision (Rent-A-Center West, Inc. v. Jackson, 2010 WL 2471058 (June 21, 2010)) reconfirms the Court’s continued strong support for enforcing arbitration agreements as written, even where this deprives the courts of any significant role in [...] read more »

Arbitration has long been established as a method of dispute resolution in the Middle East. In recent times, with the enormous economic growth experienced in the region, and the UAE’s liberal approach to foreign investment, the provision for solving disputes by arbitration has become even more prominent in commercial contracts, aided in part by the fact that it is the favoured method of resolving disputes under many standard form construction contracts.read more »

This blog considers the issues arising under the Constitution of India when a person goes and buys a flat or a commercial property from a builder; is it a “Sale”, and can the activity be amenable to a levy of VAT? read more »

Under both the contractual process and subsequent formal dispute resolution proceedings, contemporary records form a critical part of the evidence to be utilised in evaluating the contractual entitlement. The importance of good record keeping – by both contractors and employer’s agents or engineers—cannot be overstated.read more »

Reviewing the wealth of commentary on the use of letters of intent in construction contracts, one might speculate that at the time the pyramids were being built some well-intentioned Egyptian lawyer was earnestly hammering out hieroglyphics warning his contemporaries of the potentially dire consequences of commencing construction works without a concluded contract in place. Nevertheless, [...] read more »