Newsletter
Information for members
October 2007

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Programme

Unless marked otherwise, the following meetings are free to members and guests. Location maps are now always available on the website.

All are welcome but for those meetings where the organiser’s telephone or email is given, it would be helpful if you could please let them know of your intention to attend.

Tuesday, 2 October 6.15pm
“New suites of construction contracts: The Irish Experience”
Speaker: Tim Bouchier Hayes
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Wednesday, 3 October 6.00pm
“NEC Programme”
Speaker: Keith Pickavance
Chairman: Simon Goss
Venue: Bristol University, The Hawthorns, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8
Organiser: Simon Goss

Tuesday, 9 October 6.00pm
“JCT Constructing Excellence Contract”
Speaker: Martin Howe
Chairman: Alan Jenkins
Venue: Hambledon Suite 1, The Rose Bowl, Southampton SO30
Organiser: Marion Harris-Deans

Tuesday, 9 October  6.30pm 
“Nuclear Decommissioning Contracts: The Key Legal Issues”
Speaker: Hamish Lal
Venue: Darwin Building Lecture Theatre, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire PR1 
The School of Built & Natural Environment in association with the Tyndall Centre offers a “Free CPD EVENT for Industry and Academics”

Thursday, 11 October 6.00pm
“The designer’s duty – a time for review”
Speaker: Alexander Nissen QC
Chairman: Nerys Jefford
Venue: Eversheds LLP, 115, Colmore Rd, Birmingham B3
Organiser: Arul Selvaratnam

Thursday, 11 October 6.15pm
“Construction Act Review”
Speaker: Professor Rudi Klein
Chairman: Jo Rees
Venue: Morgan Cole, Bradley Court, Park Place, Cardiff CF10
Organiser: Alison Short

Tuesday, 30 October 5.30pm
Joint SCL/TECBAR Lecture
“Catching Water in a Net:  The Elusive Concept of the Reasonable Settlement”
Speaker: His Honour Judge Coulson QC
Chairman:  The Right Honourable Lord Justice May
Venue: Inner Temple Parliament Chamber
Please note:  refreshments will be provided after the meeting

Thursday, 1 November 5.45pm for 6.00pm
“The new CIC conditions and Scopes of Services- what you need to know”
Speaker: Frances Paterson MBE
Chairman:  Lindy Patterson
Venue: RICS, Manor Place, Edinburgh EH3

Friday, 2 November 12.00 noon
“SCL/CIArb/RICS Conference”
Speakers: Nerys Jefford, Suzannah Nichol and Keith Pickavance
Chairman: Her Honour Judge Frances Kirkham
Venue: Derby County Football Club, Pride Park Stadium, Pride Park, Derby
Organiser: Jocelyn Taylor

Tuesday, 6 November 6.30pm
Speaker: John Tackaberry QC (talk tbc)
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Tuesday, 13 November 6.15pm
“One hundred adjudication appointments later”
Speaker: Tony Bingham
Chairman:  Bob Davis
Venue:  Lecture Theatre 118, The Northern Terrace, Civic Quarter, Leeds LS1
Organiser: Jonathan Hawkswell     

Monday, 3 December6.15pm
Joint TECBAR/SCL meeting
Speaker: The Hon Mr Justice Akenhead (talk tba)
Chairman: Colin Reese QC
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Opportunities for Sponsorship - SCL International Conference 2008

As previously reported, the Society of Construction Law is delighted to be hosting the 2008 International Construction Law Conference in London.  The conference will be held between 5th and 7th October 2008 with a welcoming event on the Sunday evening, a gala dinner on the Monday evening and the President’s reception on the Tuesday evening so please make a note in your diaries. 

This event will attract many high profile speakers and SCL members and delegates from around the world. In order to ensure its success the SCL will be making available a limited number of elite sponsorship packages. If any of you would be interested in discussing sponsorship packages for this prestigious event please contact Frances Whitehead at franceswhitehead@scl.org.uk

SCL Hudson Prize 2007

Entries are now invited for the 2007 Competition from all entrants with an interest in construction law and an idea which they wish to share.  The length of essay is a maximum of 5,000 words and the judging panel places emphasis upon originality of thought and approach.

Eligible subjects can be drawn from any part of construction law widely defined, including (but not restricted to) construction and engineering contracts, contract administration, claims, arbitration and dispute resolution, construction litigation, the law of torts, company law, property law, taxation (although this must be related to construction) and any other aspect of law or procedure relevant to the construction industry. First prize is £1,500, second prize is £750.  Entrants can also be highly commended or commended. All who are awarded prizes or commendations receive a year's free membership of the Society.

Past winners have included members of almost all the disciplines relating to construction law including barristers, solicitors (including a trainee) quantity surveyors, engineers, academics, architects, and several hybrids qualified in more than one discipline.

Further details of the competition, the closing date for which is 4th January 2008, can be obtained from the website.  Any queries can be referred to me via Jackie Morris in the first instance at admin@scl.org.uk  Good luck to all entrants.

Anthony Lavers
Chair of the Judging Panel

European Society of Construction Law Conference 2007

The 2007 European Society of Construction Law (ESCL) Conference took place in Prague on 21st September in Prague.  Attending as delegates for the UK SCL were Barry Milton, John Tackaberry and Anthony Lavers who gave a paper. The conference was chaired by Jan Marecek, Chairman of the Czech Architectural and Construction Law Society and President of ESCL for 2007.  The main topics covered at the conference were:-

1. European perspectives in construction permit proceedings.
2. Qualification criteria for bidders and public procurement contracts placing and lists of certified contractors.

Speakers came from Czech Republic; Slovak Republic; UK; Austria; France; Sweden; Germany; Greece and Denmark.  The conference was well attended (120 listed delegates) and the quality of the papers give was of a good standard.  The extra curricular activities, a cocktail reception in the Strahov Library on Thursday evening and the Gala Dinner at the Kaiserstien Palace were of exceptional quality and most entertaining.

The Presidential Meeting held on 22nd September was attended by Czech Republic; Slovak Republic; UK; Austria; France; Sweden; Germany; Greece; Denmark; Italy; Belgium; Poland and Netherlands.  One of the topics discussed was the updating and development of the ESCL website.  Greece is the likely host of the 2008 conference.

Papers

Enclosed with this newsletter (full members only) is Hamish Lal’s paper "The Rise and Rise of Time-bar Clauses" which won the Society of Construction Arbitrators' Norman Royce prize.  It is also available on the website in PDF format. 

Advocacy Course 2007

The Society is pleased to announce that it will be holding its Advocacy Training Course again this autumn.  It will be run at a location in central London over five evening sessions between 13th November and 13th December.  The course is open only to SCL members who are solicitors and will entitle each advocate to claim 12.5 CPD hours.  The course is now fully subscribed but will be run again in autumn 2008.  For further details, contract vicky.lee@dundas-wilson.com 

Junior SCL

If you are new to the world of construction law, then you can register as a junior member.  The junior committee arranges site visits (most recently to the redevelopment of 200 Aldersgate Street – formerly the offices of Clifford Chance), conferences with King's College London and social events such as the annual summer Boat Trip on the Thames.

Booking preference for any of the organised Junior events is always given to those who are registered as Junior Members.  To register as a Junior Member is easy.  Simply log in to the SCL website (www.scl.org.uk) using your username and password.  Click on ‘Members’ and then the 'Junior members' link on the left.  You will find an explanation of Junior Membership, and a simple form to register.  You do not need to enter your name/details – these are already recognised by the website after you log in; you only need to confirm your eligibility by stating that you are junior in your area of expertise.  For further details, contact either Nicholas Gould or Richard Bailey.

Ethics

The UK Anti-Corruption Forum has announced details of a conference entitled “Preventing Corruption in Infrastructure” to be held at the ICE in London on Tuesday, 2 October 2007.  The programme for the conference, and the registration form, can be found on the Ethics section of the SCL website.

How to register on the website as a member

In order to get members’ access to the website you must register online as a member.  Registration is easy.

Go to the website homepage www.scl.org.uk click Member Registration (listed below the Member Login box on the right hand side of the homepage) and enter your details and a username and password of your own choosing.  Your membership number is also asked for (if you don’t know it, then admin can tell you).

Thereafter, you can simply log onto the website using your username and password.  When you log in you will see a navigation link to 'Members' which is where you can update your contact details, email subscriptions and data protection information – and where you can choose to have the newsletter emailed to you instead of (or as well as) receiving it by post.  This is where you can also search for information about other SCL members who have agreed for their data to be accessible to other members on the website – the total of those who have given permission is now nearly 1,000 members.

The website is constantly being improved.  If you have any questions, problems or suggestions, please contact our webmaster, Edward Peters, at webmaster@scl.org.uk

New Members

Finally, we are pleased to welcome the new members who joined the Society during September:

Lionel-Marie Bertrand, Paris 
Peter Blackmore, London
John Cleeve, Abu Dhabi, UAE 
Brad Fearn, London
John Hinchey, Atlanta, USA 
Peter King, London
Khalida Muradova, Leatherhead 
David Priest, Rugby
Colmer Richard, Karratha, Australia 
Louise Whiteford, Oxford

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