In this week’s pod, we welcomed Sarah Schutte to discuss how to make the law work for the construction and engineering industry.
Sarah is an independent UK-qualified solicitor-advocate and runs her own legal and training consultancy. She has 19 years of experience as a specialist infrastructure lawyer, including 12 years working directly for the industry. She has developed a niche practice in project management, project controls and the law (PPM and P3M and PMO).
She collaborates closely with global Chapters of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the UK Association of Project Managers (APM).
The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:
• The contract is the framework, means and vehicle for delivering and managing projects
• Freedom of contract allows companies to agree on anything within their contracts provided it is legal. They are then bound by these agreements
• No project manager is taught contract law in PMBOK or APM frameworks. This should change given the importance to project delivery
• The role of project managers has evolved to include leadership and motivation. The next evolution should be commercial know-how
• NEC Contracts are written in the “simple, present, active voice”!
• There is a difference between Commercial teams and Legal teams. Legal is generally consulted whereas commercial generally manages contracts. Legal can often be overly academic
• Standard contract templates can be a useful starting point for projects in countries where contracts are not overly prescriptive e.g. Spain
• Learning about the technical aspect of the project allows commercial teams to be value-adding to the delivery teams
• There isn’t the best time to speak to the in house legal counsel though most people leave it too late!
• As a legal counsel, it is your duty to give advice and inform clients of potential consequences to their commercial position.
• The transparency element of NEC Option C/D is overly weighted towards cost rather than time and quality
• It is important to provide accurate reporting even if the contractor or internal team do not like the answers
Here are links to some of the topics that were discussed:
Basic knowledge of contract law for Project Managers: https://www.apm.org.uk/blog/basic-knowledge-of-contract-law-is-essential-for-an-effective-project-manager/
Basic Contract Law for Project Managers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKhhSNxgqVs
Peridot Consulting International LLP : Our sister company (which I didn’t mention – oops – infra projects, mostly SE Asia).
#PeridotInt
https://www.linkedin.com/company/peridot-consulting-international-llp/?viewAsMember=true
Project Business Foundation : not for profit education and accreditation for PMs dealing with outsourced projects.
#projectbusinessmanagement
https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-business-foundation/
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Join us next week where we’re joined by Lorraine Humphrey to talk about Project Assurance and Risk Management.
Val and Dale are discussing the future of Project Controls at the Virtual Project Controls Expo next week. Be sure to tune in!
For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you’d like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by JustDo.com, PlanAcademy.com & InEight.com
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!
Dale and Val
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