Newsletter
Information for members
November 2001

Previous issue: September 2001
Next issue: January 2002

Programme

The general evening meetings are free of charge to members and their guests. Booking is not required.

Diary Dates for 2002

London meetings will be held at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, on the following dates: 5th February, 5th March, 9th April, 13th May (all dates are Tuesdays, except Monday, 13th May).

SCL Chief Executive

The Society of Construction Law has experienced significant growth in recent years and now has nearly 1,200 members in the United Kingdom.

The Society is run by its Council, comprising 16 members of the Society who give their time voluntarily to furthering the Society's objectives. A large part of the management and administration of the Society is carried out by Council members, in particular the Officers; membership and general administration enquiries are handled by the Society's Administration Officer, Jackie Morris.

The voluntary nature of Council naturally limits the extent of the activities which the Society can undertake and Council has now decided that it would be appropriate to engage a part-time paid Chief Executive, as permitted by the Society's Constitution.

The person we are seeking for this role should be:-
1. an active member of the Society.
2. a person of standing within the field of construction/construction law.
3. empathetic with, and supportive of, the Society's aims and objectives, namely the promotion of the study and understanding of construction law amongst all those involved in the construction industry.
4. proactive and energetic (stamina and a sense of humour will help!).
5. someone who lives within reasonable access of London.

The duties will include the following:-

1. The development and implementation of the current strategy of Council, including for the Society to become more active in areas of policy whilst maintaining and extending the high quality of talks and seminars given throughout the United Kingdom.

2. The identification of further opportunities and initiatives for the Society which are consistent with an appropriate to the Society's aims and objectives.

3. The strengthening of the Society's regional and international activities, including representing the Society at meetings with the regional co-ordinators and the universities teaching construction law within the United Kingdom, attending (if appropriate) meetings with ESCL co-ordinators within Europe and representing the Society at meetings with other bodies including the Construction Industry Council and other policy groups.

4. Attending up to eight Council meetings per annum in London.

Remuneration and time commitment:

1. We envisage a time commitment of three to four days per month, to be reviewed after a trial period of an initial six months.

2. Remuneration will be on an hourly basis, plus travel expenses outside London.

The closing date for applications is 30th November 2001. If you are interested in applying for this position, or would like any further information to enable you to consider doing so, please contact the Chairman of the Society, Victoria Russell, on vrussell@fenwickelliott.co.uk or by telephone on (020)7956-9354 or mobile on 07939 083466.

SCL Malaysia

Moves are afoot to create a new Society of Construction Law in Malaysia.

Members who travel to or have contacts in Malaysia and who may feel able to assist should contact either Sundra Rajoo: tel: 0060 3 2272 2663 fax: 0060 3 2272 5520 email: sundrai@pd.jaring.my or John Burgess: tel: 01372 464708 fax: 01372 463754 email: j.burgess@crd.meuk.mee.com

European Society of Construction Law Conference

Several members of the Society attended the annual conference of ESCL in Vienna on 5 October, which covered a wide range of procurement and dispute resolution topics.

At the national chairmen's meeting on 6 October, Victoria Russell was elected President of ESCL for the next year.

The ESCL Conference 2002 will be held at King's College on Friday 12 July 2002; it is hoped that this will be a joint event between ESCL, SCL and the Society of Construction Arbitrators. There is also a possibility of participation in the conference by a visiting group of construction lawyers from the United States.

Please put this date in your diaries for next year; further details will follow.

TCC Users Committee

A meeting of the TCC Users Committee took place on 24 October; matters discussed included the plans for the new commercial court, the new CPR Part 60, which will formally provide for construction dispute arbitration applications and appeals to go directly to the TCC, not via the commercial court, and the TCC Users Guide, which is awaiting approval by the Rules Committee.

The new court manager at St. Dunstan's House is Sheila Morson, who will present a report at each Users Committee meeting in future. She has asked for comments - whether complaints or compliments - from users of the TCC; any such comments should either be sent directly to her or to the Chairman of SCL, Victoria Russell at Fenwick Elliott, who will then pass them on at the next Users Committee meeting.

There was a report at the meeting on video links and telephone summonses; Court 13A in St. Dunstan's is now set up for dedicated telephone summonses, in respect of which queries should be made to the court manager or the individual judges' clerks.

E-mail facilities for staff and clerks are to be introduced.

Following a number of comments, in particular those from a variety of SCL members which Victoria Russell had communicated to Mr Justice Forbes, there was some discussion about the website.

The TCC website is maintained by Judge Bowsher QC. It is down to individual judges to decide whether they have delivered a judgment which should be published on the website and, if so, they then submit that judgment to him. He will be the final arbiter of whether or not it is published on the website. No change is proposed to this. Reference was made to the CA practice direction, to the effect that only cases establishing new principles should be reported.

Judge Bowsher QC will be writing further to Victoria Russell on this subject in due course; any further information or report will be included in a future SCL newsletter.

Mr Justice Forbes is going to write to all TCC judges, both in London and the regions, to encourage appropriate publication of their judgments.

The Users Committee minutes are likely to be published on the TCC website in future and it is hoped that there will be website links between the different TCC Users Groups around the country in order better to co-ordinate their information and activities.

The next meeting is likely to be in early February.

SCL Draft Delay Protocol - Consultation Period

You may recall the SCL delay group was formed over a year ago and comprises over 40 members representing all sides of the industry. The group was formed to produce a protocol on the subject of delay in construction projects.

A copy of the draft delay was put before the Council meeting on the 29th October. Council feedback was positive and it was agreed that we send the protocol out for consultation with selected industry bodies and individuals by the end of November.

We will also make an electronic copy of the document available to all SCL members as soon as the consultation period commences and Council will be glad to receive members' summary comments. The precise details will be emailed to all members by the end of November and will also be included in the next newsletter.

SCL Hudson Prize

A reminder that the closing date for entries for this year's SCL Hudson Prize is 31st December 2001. The prizes will include £1,500 first and £750 second prize. You can get entry details from Jackie Morris at the administration office, or from SCL's website.

CIC Directory of ADR Service Providers

Looking for a mediator in the north? Trying to track down a fax number? Looking for details of that new group you have heard of? The answers are to be found in this invaluable Directory, which lists no fewer than 32 bodies providing ADR services to the construction industry.

The Directory includes well known names, recently formed bodies and regional groups. For each one, full contact details are provided, together with the services provided - for example, the nature of disputes and area covered, the number of mediators on their list, whether the list is published, whether assistance is given in setting up mediations, etc.

The Directory costs £8.25 (inc p&p) and can be obtained from Micky Klippel-Arden at the Construction Industry Council, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT (tel 020 7637 8692, fax 020 7580 6140).

SCL Web Site: http://www.scl.org.uk

For those new to the Society and/or to the WWW our web site is a constant source of new information. Items which have arrived too late to be published in a Newsletter, or details of meetings which have been arranged after the seasonal Diary has gone to print, will be posted on the website. It contains details of our future programme and contact details for university book grants.

In addition, a large number of papers are now published on our website and new ones are being added all the time.

New Members

Finally, we are pleased to welcome the following new members to the Society during September & October:

Membership/Administration
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