When individuals and SME’s conduct business, they usually enter into contracts. Contracts and commercial agreements are meant to provide a clear framework to govern a commercial transaction or relationship including the distribution of rights, risks and obligations – whether that is with your customers and suppliers; partners; co-shareholders; or your funders. A well negotiated and drafted contract will aim to minimise the imbalance of risks on you or your SME.

Our contract barristers are available to provide personal and small business legal advice on the drafting and negotiation of contracts. However, not all contracts go to plan and this more often than not leads to a contractual dispute.

This is when a party to a contract has a disagreement with the other party, usually about the contract’s terms or definitions; or if one party is not living up to their end of the bargain. Therefore, it is important that contractual disputes are dealt with at the earliest opportunity, as they can be costly and time-consuming, end up in litigation, adjudication or arbitration and damage a company’s business relationships and reputation.

Our contract barristers are also adept at providing legal advice to clients on the dispute resolution process when it comes to contract disputes. We regularly receive instructions from small business and individuals on the drafting and legal disputes arising from agency agreements; collaboration agreements; confidentiality and exclusivity agreements; distribution and supply agreements; e-commerce agreements; franchise agreements; joint venture agreements; manufacturing agreements; procurement and outsourcing; service level agreements; software licences; technology transfer agreements; and terms and conditions of business.