Contract Law: Drafting Intensive
Expertise in contract drafting is crucial in almost any commercial matter or transaction. This practical webinar will enable you to gain a mastery of some of the most important, and at times overlooked, techniques, clauses and drafting tools. Whether you’re a seasoned contract drafter or just looking to a refresher, our contracts specialists will help you to refine your contract drafting skills to develop best practice. WEB223NZA37
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD hours
Chair: Chris Linton, Consultant, Duncan Cotterill
9.00am to 10.00am Pre-Contract Negotiations
The ability to construct “win/win” outcomes is one of the key differentiators between a good lawyer and a great one. Drawing on the presenter's own experience in this area, in this session you will work through a combination of practical and effective exercises with elements of Harvard’s world leading negotiation program to help you negotiate the best terms for your next contract.
Presented by John Steadman, General Manager – Procurement, Spark NZ
10.05am to 11.05am Indemnity Clauses
- Are they really that important?
- What do they actually do?
- Should I include one in my commercial contract?
- Case examples – when indemnity clauses go wrong?
Presented by Brad Cuff, Barrister, Capital Chambers
11.05am to 11.15am Break
11.15am to 12.15pm Drafting Penalty Clauses and Uncertainty
Examine practical examples and recent case law on penalty clauses and questions around uncertainty, both of which can result in the Court finding that a contract is void.
Presented by Darise Bennington, Senior Associate, Duncan Cotterill
12.20pm to 1.20pm Earnout Clauses
Earn-out clauses are a pragmatic means of navigating contracting parties’ views regarding an asset’s value. However, they call for careful drafting.
- Explore case law on earnout clauses, how the attempts to bridge the gap went wrong and the lessons arising from them to bear in mind for future drafting.
Presented by Yoonjung Lee, Associate. Gilbert Walker
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to engage in effective pre-contract negotiations
- Gain practical insights and skills for drafting indemnity clauses
- Receive practical guidance on penalty clauses and avoiding uncertainty
- Learn how to draft earnout clauses and avoid risk
- Examine how to work with variation and waiver clauses
Presenters
Chris Linton
Chris is a senior corporate/commercial and technology specialist. She advises New Zealand and international corporates, and public sector clients, on their terrestrial and online businesses. This includes technology projects (from strategy, procurement and implementation through to dispute resolution), blockchain, crypto and fintech businesses (advising start-ups and investors); M&A, joint ventures, strategic alliances, venture capital, and gaming (and related regulatory advice). Before joining Duncan Cotterill, Chris was a partner at national law firm in Wellington and a specialist commercial law firm in Auckland. She also worked in London with leading global firm, Linklaters doing cross border M&A, joint ventures and financing. Chris is the Honorary Consul for Finland in Auckland, President of the New Zealand Scandinavia Business Association, and a member of Fintech NZ.
John Steadman
John has 20 years’ experience in law. He spent 8 years in private practice in a variety of commercial and litigation roles before moving in-house to support the ICT business arm of Telecom New Zealand. John spent 8 years working for the Telecom/Spark in-house legal team in a variety of roles before moving into a commercial role for three years as the Head of Strategic Projects where he was responsible for the negotiation and contracting of $2b+ 4G network contracts, online media platforms Lightbox and Spark Sport and ran the 5G network negotiations. He is an experienced technology and telecommunications lawyer and was working for the Chorus legal team supporting the roll out of fibre across New Zealand before returning to Spark. John also regularly speaks and writes on legal topics. He has taught negotiation for the College of Law since 2011 and has studied at the Harvard Negotiation Institute
Brad Cuff
Brad was a litigation partner in an international law firm before becoming a barrister sole in 2020. Brad is a professional member of the New Zealand Law Society and New Zealand Insurance Law Association. With extensive experience in insurance litigation and advice, Brad’s professional roles have included in-house legal service for a major medical indemnity insurer, heading the legal, risk and compliance team at a major US insurer and a top tier Sydney law firm. Brad has acted for some of New Zealand's largest insurers together with Australian insurers and underwriting agencies having a thorough knowledge and understanding of legislative and regulatory environments. His practice covers a wide range of insurance areas and civil litigation.
Yoonjung Lee
Yoonjung Lee is an associate at Gilbert Walker and specialises in large-scale, complex commercial disputes. Yoonjung has represented clients in the banking, energy, insurance, information technology and telecommunications sectors and has appeared in court proceedings and arbitrations. Recent experience includes successfully acting for an NZX-listed telecommunications provider in a multi-million dollar arbitration against its former contractors for breaches of equitable, contractual and fiduciary duties. She also successfully represented an energy company in a dispute against its purchaser for historic and ongoing carbon tax liabilities under a gas supply agreement. Yoony has acted for companies, directors, professional advisors and major banks. Yoonjung was junior counsel in the successful High Court proceedings brought by the liquidators of Mainzeal and has also acted for a large retailer in defending proceedings brought by the Commerce Commission. Admitted: 2014. Education: LLB(Hons) / BCom (Hons, Accounting, 1st Class) (University of Auckland) and LLM (University of Auckland). Prior to joining Gilbert Walker, she was a senior associate in the dispute resolution team of a large national law firm.
Darise Bennington
Darise specialises in litigation and dispute resolution across many aspects of property, commercial and company law. Darise has experience in debt recovery and insolvency proceedings, including liquidations and bankruptcies. She also has a particular interest in corporate governance issues which involve directors duties and shareholder disputes.