Newsletter
Information for members
May 2002

Previous issue: March 2002
Next issue: June 2002

Programme

A reminder that the general evening meetings are free of charge to members and guests and that no booking is necessary

Annual Dinner at Middle Temple Hall Wednesday, 15th May

If you have not already booked your place at the Annual Dinner, please do so soon; there are still a few places available. If you need another copy of the booking form Jackie Morris can supply one or, alternatively, you can book your place through the Society's secure website at www.scl.org.uk

As those of you who have attended in previous years know, this is a fairly informal event, with no seating plan and plenty of opportunities for members of the Society to mingle and chat to each other, either in the gardens of the Middle Temple before dinner or in the Hall itself after dinner.

This year, there will be two short after dinner speeches. One will be given by the Society's President, Sir Philip Otton, and the other by Graham Watts, Chief Executive of the Construction Industry Council.

Several members of the judiciary from the Court of Appeal and the TCC are attending, as well as some representatives of construction industry organizations, and we hope that as many of you will come as possible.

Elections to Council 2002

You should already have received your ballot form, together with the list of candidates standing for election to Council; if not, contact Jackie Morris at the Admin office who can supply replacement copies.

This year, members are able to vote either ahead of the AGM by post, fax or email (see ballot form for details) or, alternatively, at the AGM to be held on Wednesday, 15th May at 6.00pm at Middle Temple Hall, London EC4.

Protocol for Determining Extensions of Time and
Compensation for Delay and Disruption

A consultation workshop has been fixed for the afternoon of Wednesday, 22nd May. The Chairman will be His Honour Judge Humphrey Lloyd QC. More people than anticipated wanted to attend and so we have moved the venue from the room originally booked at the ICE to a larger room at the offices of Baker & McKenzie. Those who have registered to attend will be sent details.

News from the Society of Construction Law Hong Kong

The Society's Chairman, Paul Starr, reports that the Society has just had its second anniversary. Membership has increased from 150 at the end of the first year to 268.

The highlight of last calendar year was the keynote address given by Lord Mustill. He not only entertained members and guests to a thought-provoking and occasionally controversial presentation on what is wrong with arbitration, but also graciously (unprofitably) joined them at the Happy Valley races.

This year's highlight - the Keynote Address 2002 - has just been given by Sir Anthony Mason, former Chief Justice of Australia and now non-permanent member of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. Sir Anthony spoke with unrivalled authority about the impact of Australasian legal decisions upon Hong Kong and other common law jurisdictions. Sir Anthony has very kindly published his paper for the benefit of members.

The Society has enjoyed a splendid mix of visiting and local speakers. Lively discussion took place between audience and environmental panelists at the seminar held in Hong Kong's trendy Integer Building. Christine Loh, outspoken former politician and now civic leader, chaired a panel which included senior representatives from across government and the industry (Mr Tony Miller, Director of Housing; Mr Nicholas Sallnow-Smith, Hong Kong Land; Mr Michael Chiu, Environmental Protection Department; Mr Martin Hadaway, Gammon Construction; Mr Bruce Coghlan, Institute of Quarrying; Mr Glenn Frommer, MTRC).

Hong Kong is currently enjoying the consultation phase for the proposed civil procedure court reforms, to be based significantly upon those of Lord Woolf. The Society was treated to a detailed presentation of the Hong Kong proposals by two of their authors, Mr Justice Robert Ribeiro and Mr Justice Michael Hartmann. The Society has invited detailed comments upon the proposals from its members, and is in the process of responding formally to the Hong Kong Committee.

Last Season's most popular event was the "lighthearted lawyers' libation" held before Christmas, at which some of Hong Kong's favourite construction lawyers engaged in a Jeux-sans-Bureaux, chaired by Hong Kong's own Nicholas Parsons, Mr Simon Westbrook SC.

As for Season Three, the Society's Council is keen to hear from any individuals who would like to speak at functions. Please contact the Chairman through Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre c/o 38th Floor, Two Exchange Square, 8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: 852 2525 2381. Fax: 852 2524 2171.

As well as offering full membership, the Society now offers discounts to overseas residents and full-time students. For information, please contact the HKIAC. The Society naturally welcomes all expressions of interest, on an industry-wide basis.

Change the Face of International Turnkey Contracts

The ICC Commission on International Commercial Practices, based in Paris, is currently working on a draft of a new Major Projects Turnkey contract for international construction. The mandate of the group is to create a contract which is fair to all parties. If you are interested in taking part (at yours or your firm's expense!) contact Robert Knutson through the SCL.

Adjudication Society - recent case notes

As some of you may know, Nicholas Gould is the case notes editor for the Adjudication Society. The Society meets occasionally and issues a monthly newsletter containing material on adjudication as well as notes on recent cases dealing with adjudication. Should you have access to any topical case transcripts then please forward them to Nicholas who will be pleased to consider summarising them for publication. Credit is given to the person supplying any that are published. He can be contacted by email at ngould@fenwickelliott.co.uk.

European Society of Construction Law Conference

In conjunction with the Centre of Construction Law at King's College, the ESCL Conference 2002 will be held at King's College, London on Friday 12th July 2002; this will be a joint event between ESCL, SCL, King's College 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. The title of the conference is "Delivering Infrastructure: International Best Practice" and a number of internationally renowned speakers have already confirmed their attendance.

SCL Papers

Members will have received, or will be receiving shortly, the following Papers:

1 Adrian Baron's Hudson Prize winning paper, Damages in the Shadow of a Penalty Clause -
Tripping over policy in the search for logic and legal principle.

2 Ben Ring's second Prize winning paper, Separability - A tale of two agreements.

3 Hamish Lal's second Prize winning paper, Extensions of Time: the conflict between
'the prevention principle' and notice requirement as a condition precedent.

4 A paper first given by John Tackaberry QC in December 1998 and repeated in Hong Kong
in November last year, Termination for Convenience.

5 Peter Fenn's paper, given in Derbyshire in March, Why Construction Contracts Go Wrong
(or an aetiological approach to construction disputes).

Two further papers have just been put on the SCL website, www.scl.org.uk. The first is Professional Negligence: The Irish and UK Case Law, given by John Lyden in Cork in March 2001 and the second Privileged Negotiations, another paper given by John Tackaberry QC in Hong Kong in November last year.

Don't forget that on the website there is a complete index of the 104 papers printed by the Society, together with a dozen other papers that are only on the web.

Pre Event for the World Summit for Sustainable Development (The Earth Summit 2002)

The Construction Industry Council's Sustainable Development Committee is organising a one-day event in preparation for the world Summit for Sustainable Development in September 2002.

The event, which is being organised in conjunction with the RICS Foundation, is due to be held on Tuesday 14th May 2002 at the RICS. The aim is to use this event as the springboard to the UK construction industry's contribution to the Earth Summit and CIC welcomes suggestions and ideas, both for the format of the day and of any contributions that members may wish to make at the Earth Summit.

The aim of the event is to put forward a number of projects that demonstrate best practice in terms of sustainability to an audience of 100-150 Industry representatives. CIC cordially invites all members to put forward projects or case studies from their sector of the industry to be represented at the event.

For information please contact Micky Klippel-Arden by email at mklippel-arden@cic.org.uk

SCL Web Site: 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.

As mentioned above, you can also purchase hard copies of past papers on line via the "papers" section of the website, alternatively you can download a copy of the most recent papers before they are printed in hard copy.

SCL Membership

Finally, we are pleased to welcome the following new members to the Society during March and April:

Regional Coordinators

Are you moving? Will your contact details change? Do we have your email address? Please tell Membership Administration so that we can keep our records up to date.

Membership/Administration
67 Newbury Street
Wantage, Oxon., OX12 8DJ
Tel: 01235 770606
Fax: 01235 770580
Email