An Intensive 5-day Training Course
Drafting Legal Clauses in Commercial Contracts
Course Introduction
This Oxford Management Centre training course will focus your contract management and in-house counsel teams on producing excellent commercial agreements.
Well written contracts help your organisation to achieve successful commercial outcomes with better performing contractors, satisfied customers, reduced risks and fewer liabilities, which means you will generate greater commercial value.
Poorly written contracts will create difficulties. Contractors may exploit contractual ambiguities to avoid their obligations. Your customers may be more demanding and delay their payments. Risks that you had hoped to transfer or avoid become unwelcome issues for which you must take responsibility. You may need to make costly changes to correct errors and omissions. Your liabilities may increase and value may be damaged.
This Drafting Legal Clauses in Commercial Contracts training course will highlight why effective commercial contract drafting is important for your organisation, and teach you how to draft a well-written, clear, and effective commercial agreement, including the following:
- How to use appropriate styles and language in a contract
- When to consider using standard templates and model form contracts
- How to draft clearly and concisely
- How to structure the contract to create a logical flow
- How you can use checklists to cover the full scope of what should be in the agreement.
- How to work with draft contract clauses supplied by the opposing party.
Objectives
By the end of the Drafting Legal Clauses in Commercial Contracts training course, you will be able to:
- Structure a standard commercial contract
- Identify the key terms and conditions that you should include in a contract
- Use model contracts and templates as a basis for your own work
- Draft appropriate terms and conditions for a range of commercial activities
- Identify unacceptably risky or ambiguous terms and conditions in the proposed contracts provided by others
- Propose alternative draft contract wording when negotiating with your opposite number
Training Methodology
You will experience a full range of lively and interactive training methods, including exercises, role plays, case studies, drafting sessions and group discussions.
The facilitator will underpin each topic with a presentation that highlights key issues to focus on. Your learning experience will be supported by a reference manual containing contract templates, checklists, and examples of drafting best practice. You will draft legal clauses and receive personal feedback on your efforts.
Organisational Impact
By having your teams attend this Drafting Legal Clauses in Commercial Contracts training course, your organisation will benefit through:
- Motivating participants to be more successful in the legal drafting role
- Updating them in new techniques in creating legal agreements
- Increasing their skills and competencies in contract negotiation
- Facilitating their ability to identify and manage contractual risks
- Improve results in the real world from better commercial contracts
Personal Impact
By attending this Drafting Legal Clauses in Commercial Contracts training course, you as an attendee will benefit by:
- Developing your ability to structure contracts to improve readability
- Learning how and when to modify standard terms and conditions to fit the needs of your employer
- Improving your skills in creating effective commercial agreements
- Increasing your job satisfaction by negotiating better contracts
- Being appreciated by your colleagues for the added value legal support you give them in their business-as-usual operations
Who Should Attend?
This Drafting Legal Clauses in Commercial Contracts training course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:
- Members of the In-House Legal Team, especially those involved in:
- Preparing and drafting contracts and other commercial documents
- Providing legal advice to corporate functions about the meaning of terms and conditions in contracts and other documents
- Commercial Contracts Managers who assist in procurement activities
- Team Members who manage contractor contracts and who need to apply the terms of commercial agreements
- Any other Staff Member who assists or is involved in preparing legal documentation
Course Outline
Day One
Thinking Through the Contract Drafting Plan
- Introduction, objectives and scope of this programme
- Why contract drafting skills are important
- Defining the purpose of any contract
- What is the relationship that the contract is seeking to create?
- Who does what, when and how?
- When does payment occur?
- What happens if things go wrong?
- What form should our contract take?
- Achieving our Primary objective – clarity
- Considering risk in our contracts
Day Two
Contract Drafting Principles
- Working with the other parties to the contract
- Choosing an appropriate contract structure
- Using preliminary commercial agreement documents
- Letters of intent
- Heads of terms
- Memorandum of Understanding
- Using Framework Contracts
- Model contracts and templates, such as the FIDIC portfolio
- Using unambiguous and appropriate contract language
Day Three
The Main Contract Elements
- The principal clauses that impose obligations or create rights
- The Scope of Work
- Timing clauses
- Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators
- Payment and other financial terms
- Using Contractual machinery, such as
- Definitions clauses
- Contract variation mechanisms.
- Contract notices and other communications
- Contents of the front and back of the contract
- Title
- Parties
- Recitals
- Dates
- Signatures
- Attachments, exhibits and schedules
Day Four
Using Contract Clauses to Defend the Organisation and Improve Contractor Performance
- Identifying, Analysing, and managing hidden risks in contract clauses
- Recognising and understanding clauses that allocate or manage risk.
- Warranties and representations
- Default and Liability clauses
- Exclusion and limitation of liability
- Indemnity and insurance clauses
- Bonds and Guarantees
- Liquidated damages clauses and penalties
- Title transfer
- Force Majeure
- Termination clauses
- Cyber Security clauses
Day Five
Negotiating and Finalising the Draft Contract
- Negotiating your clauses with the other side
- Negotiating strategies
- Revising the draft contract following negotiations
- Tracking changes
- Briefing your management on the implications of the negotiated document.
Certificate
Oxford Management Centre Certificate will be provided to delegates who successfully completed the training course.
Accreditation
