Opinion – Page 644

  • Comment

    Cometh the hour …

    2001-09-28T00:00:00Z

    If Iain Duncan Smith's election was remarkable, so are the global and national challenges he'll have to face. And he might just be the man for the job

  • Comment

    The cost of winning

    2001-09-28T00:00:00Z

    Allowing the winning party in an adjudication to recover its costs from the loser is utterly inappropriate in adjudication. Worse, it could deter people from using it

  • Comment

    Don't take my word for it

    2001-09-28T00:00:00Z

    When someone shakes your hand and says they intend to do business with you, you might reasonably believe you have an oral contract. Think again

  • Comment

    Cover me!

    2001-09-28T00:00:00Z

    Design-and-build contractors often have to remedy design flaws quickly to prevent third-party claims down the line. But will their insurer pay their costs?

  • Comment

    Three great legal myths

    2001-09-28T00:00:00Z

    There is a danger that some urban myths about disputes will become embedded in people's minds unless arbitrators and adjudicators take steps to expose them

  • Comment

    The politics of the PFI

    2001-09-21T00:00:00Z

    The PFI is not a new idea, but if it is to work, the government must be prepared to fight openly for its preferred policy

  • Comment

    Survival course

    2001-09-21T00:00:00Z

    As if she hadn't come under enough fire, Zara Lamont braved four days with the army to find out what it could teach construction about getting on in a rough world

  • Comment

    Dinky is the new big

    2001-09-21T00:00:00Z

    A new short form of subcontract is so small a plasterer will be able to keep it in his back pocket – and it's so simple, there's even a chance he'll understand it

  • Comment

    Hard day's night

    2001-09-21T00:00:00Z

    Peter Cornell and Justin Williams give a glimpse of the hard slog of real-life mediation. Who's for coffee?

  • Comment

    Get what you want

    2001-09-21T00:00:00Z

    Even in a win–win situation, one party wins more than the other. How do you ensure it's you?

  • Comment

    ADR stages dramatic comeback

    2001-09-21T00:00:00Z

    In a function room at the Globe Theatre in London, people are drinking champagne and discussing the play. But this was a drama with a difference: these people are all construction professionals, and they have just been to what amounts to a seminar on mediation, organised by solicitor Campbell Hooper.Another ...

  • Comment

    Solutions R us

    2001-09-21T00:00:00Z

    Building talks to Karen Gough, the new president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

  • Comment

    Making the best of PFI

    2001-09-14T00:00:00Z

    The firms behind PFI hospitals and schools don't have to live with the consequences of bad design, so they aren't interested in it. Its time to change the rules …

  • Comment

    Give us the tools

    2001-09-14T00:00:00Z

    Regeneration The government is finding it difficult to deliver its regeneration policy. It needs to clear away the bureaucratic obstacles.

  • Comment

    A drinking problem

    2001-09-14T00:00:00Z

    Contractors tempted to forgo a contract and agree things over a pint, be warned. Adjudication won't protect you when you fall out over whose round it is

  • Comment

    Oh, for a bucket of water

    2001-09-14T00:00:00Z

    The Fire Precautions Act is a poorly-written piece of poppycock that puts a whole lot of people in a whole lot of danger. It should be sent back to parliament

  • Comment

    Don't plead in vain

    2001-09-14T00:00:00Z

    If you're claiming an interim payment as a result of variations to contract, be careful how you set out your demand. If you're not clear enough, you won't get paid

  • Comment

    Yankee, go home

    2001-09-14T00:00:00Z

    Dominic Helps argued that US-style no win, no fee arrangements sit well with adjudication. In fact, he's wrong: they could give all parties a rougher deal

  • Comment

    Nanny strikes again

    2001-09-07T00:00:00Z

    The self-employed keep the industry competitive, but the government seems dead set on hounding them out of existence. Why?

  • Comment

    Break with past, Melinda

    2001-09-07T00:00:00Z

    To argue against the third party rights act, as Melinda Parisotti did, is to argue in favour of a disaster. Not surprising, then, that the reasoning doesn't bear examination