Know how to read contract clauses and fully recognize the risks being taken on.
Almost every contract dispute ends up being controlled by the contract terms and conditions. Too often, businesspeople sign the contract without fully understanding the agreement they have become bound to. For many, contracts read as if they were a foreign language. Learn how to translate the often convoluted terms of a contract and, if there is a problem hidden within a clause, how to deal with that problematic clause.
Often, businesses enter into contracts without knowing how to read the clauses and fully recognize the risks they have taken on. The benefit of this information is that you will be able to quickly recognize risky clauses, better understand the risks those clauses create, and how to reduce or eliminate those risks before you sign the contract. You will also learn which phrases aggravate that risk and how you can minimize the risk when you have already signed a bad contract.
Learning Objectives
- You will be able to identify the clauses that create the most risk for your company or public entity.
- You will be able to recognize key phrases in contract clauses which can become a time bomb.
- You will be able to identify 90% of the risk clauses in your contract in less than one hour, rather than the several hours it would take to read the entire contract.
- You will be able to discuss the key features of an indemnity clause.
Agenda
What Should Be in Your Contract and What Should Not Be There?
What Clauses Get Contractors and Owners in Trouble?
Incorporations by Reference:
- Industry Standards, General Conditions, Prime Contact, the Bid, and More
Why the First Few Paragraphs of the Contract Are So Important
Key Clauses, Including Review of Plans and Specifications, Indemnity, Insurance, Warranty, Payment Requirements, Terminations, Order of Precedence, and Much More
Key Phrases That Warn You of Danger, Such as Sole Discretion
Speakers
Larry P. Lubka,
Lubka & White LLP- Partner at Lubka & White LLP
- More than 30 years of experience in complex contracts, including commercial, UCC, state and local, and federal government contracts
- Given several hundred seminars on construction law across the country
- Selected as a Best Lawyer, Super Lawyer and Top Lawyer for over a decade
- Co-wrote sections of California Construction Law, wrote scores of articles, including articles in the constructor and publishes regular articles in the Lubka & White website
- Member of the California Bar and several federal courts
- J.D. degree, with honors, George Washington University Law Center; B.A. degree
- Can be contacted at 626-301-0700, larry@lubkawhite.com or Lubka & White LLP, 222 E. Huntington Drive, Suite 215, Monrovia, CA
