Minter Ellison's popular report on the fundamentals of doing business in Australia.
Minter Ellison is proud to sponsor the 4th annual International Construction Law conference constructionlaw2012.com
Effective contract administration is critical to the successful implementation of construction projects. Minter Ellison’s lawyers work with clients to develop a standard suite of documents across the whole project, including head contracts, sub contracts, consultancy agreements and FEED (Front End Engineering Design). We also help with the standard forms that integrate into the suite of documents including contract manuals, contract administration manuals and contract notices. When contract claims are received our role can be as simple as determining format and compliance with the contract, but it may develop into a complete dispute resolution strategy. We identify the requisite insurance and advise on the appropriateness of the cover for the project. Our advice takes into account the regulatory framework in each state, and we have written security of payment manuals for our contractor clients to assist them in dealing with a pre-claim and in establishing frameworks to meet tight statutory timelines.
The Christmas period is seen by many in the construction industry as an opportunity to serve payment claims or have claims for payment of construction work adjudicated under the security of payment legislation — in the hope those claims or applications will go unanswered or the other party will be ill-prepared to defend them.
On 12 September 2011, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) unveiled the latest version of its Rules of Arbitration which commence on 1 January 2012. Following a review that began in 2008, the new Rules were approved by the ICC World Council in Mexico City in June this year. The revised Rules aim to address the complexities of international commercial and business disputes, and include amendments borne of experience gained from using the 1998 Rules.
