Understanding contracts for effective control

About the course
So many of our obligations, in business and in our personal lives, come to us through contracts we conclude with others. Yet how often do we understand fully what we are doing and what the consequences will be for our business and ourselves?

Sometimes we don't even know whether we are bound by a contract or not. How can we be in control of our economic power unless we can manage the legal process that underpins it - the process of making sound contracts? Managing the legal side of our lives, business and personal, can be a big effort because it lives in a language of its own - legal language.

This intensive three-day programme is designed to demystify the nature, content and implications of common contracts and to assist participants to take ownership of the contracts they enter into.

As the process and the content of contracts are examined and discussed, the scope of contracts to protect our interests and to limit our vulnerability over a wide area will become clearer.

Who will benefit from this course?
Anyone working with contracts, and anyone working in fields such as sales, marketing, advertising, buying, tendering and recruitment, who wish to have greater control over their contractual activity.

This programme is designed for those with no previous training in legal drafting but who do have a basic understanding of the law relating to contracts and some knowledge of their shape and consequences.

Course outline
The first two days will cover the essential features of a contract, the form and process of contracting, the logical arrangement of contents, common terms and conditions, an understanding of agency, provisions for resolving disputes and the consequences of breach. It will also extract the important legal principles that govern the process and explore the range of opportunities that the process offers. Attention will be given to the many forms a contract may take, including contracting by fax and on the internet.

Participants will be encouraged to contribute to group discussion from their own experiences with contracts and expected to take part in group consideration of case studies.

The third day will be devoted to looking at the building blocks of legal language - the words, the technical expressions, the long sentences and the complicated structures - and will provide practical assistance in the best ways of reading it and writing it.

In the course of the third day participants will first take apart a standard legal document discovering the various features that make up legal language and they will then, in small groups, build their own contract - one that is legally sound, clearly expressed and that fully reflects the desired relationship between the parties.

Participants will discover something of the complex demands placed on language when it expresses the law and, through trial and error, they will find successful ways of drafting a straightforward legal document.

Course presenter
The programme is presented by Terry Boxall, a practising commercial attorney currently attached to the Law Faculty, who has extensive experience in teaching practical legal issues to people without specialised legal knowledge.

Registration details
Programme and venue information:
Signing in will commence at 9am on the first day unless otherwise advised. Each day will end at approximately 5pm.

Award of certificate:
A certificate of attendance from UCT will be awarded to those who attend all three days of the course. Please ensure that you sign the attendance register each day.

Closing date for registration:
One week prior to the course.

Registration and enquiries:
Please contact the Professional Development Project:
Paula Allen on 021 650 5558
Andrea Blaauw on 021 650 5413
Fax:021 650 5513
Email:az.ca.tcu@nella.aluap/az.ca.tcu@wuaalb.aerdna/az.ca.tcu@llafressaw.aneri
OR visit our website: www.lawatwork.uct.ac.za to download the registration form.

Date: 20 October 2015 to 22 October 2015
Time: 09:00 - 17:00
Venue: Cape Town
Cost: R7,500 per delegate. Fee includes parking, teas, lunches, course materials.

More info:

Instructions regarding the programme and directions to the venue will be sent to you electronically a week prior to the event.