Event list
Ask the Expert - Contract, conflict and cooperation - the meaning of cooperation in the management of contracts (IACCM)
Thursday, December 17, 2015, 11:00am - 12:00pm
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Our expert, Haward Soper, has over 30 years of experience in creating innovative contracts driven by collaboration and consensus. His experiences as a General Counsel, litigator, and Contract Management advisor in a multi-national corporation have inspired him to undertake a PhD designed to validate and refine some key insights he has gained, including:
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- Relational contracting, as identified through the work of Stewart Macaulay in Wisconsin, is a commercial reality. Contract Management professionals and people in business tend to act cooperatively and pragmatically especially in longer term or repetitive relationships. Formality is frowned on and tends to be considered confrontational.
- The most successful contracts and contract managers are those who create the right atmosphere and governance structures in their contracts. Those contracts still need appropriate underpinning with good incentive schemes and clear scopes.
- A new ethos, congruent with new contracting styles and the needs of contract managers, is required in contract law and this involves creating incentives to cooperate and communicate. This is possible and it can be done using current legal methods fairly easily. The Courts, especially the English Courts, have not kept in touch with the changes in modern commercial practice, especially in developments in outsourcing and facilities management and EPC contracting.
While Haward has not yet completed his research, he is eager to share some of his preliminary findings. Please join Haward in what is certain to be a very insightful session. After the session, you will be invited to participate in Haward's ongoing survey, and receive the research findings once he has completed this exciting project.