Our extensive expertise includes applying a range of qualitative and quantitative risk management techniques to review and analyse potential conflicts and ensure appropriate actions and processes to avoid them.
Our UK team has provided expert opinion evidence to clients in litigation, arbitration, adjudication, conciliation, and mediation. Services encompass prospective and forensic delay analysis, document preparation and expert testimony in the pursuit and/or defence of contractual claims for delay, disruption, variations, and general damages.
Conflict Avoidance and Pre-Contract Support
We provide clients with a comprehensive and practical understanding of contract documents and their operative terms to avoid being exposed to contractual risk. On-going project claims are inevitable from time to time. By combining best practice methodology and specialist knowledge, we can apply our specialist technical and contractual know-how to unravel complex issues and manage these in a cost-effective way.
- Contract Review and Drafting (Including FIDIC, ECC NEC, JCT, ACA and bespoke contracts).
- Risk Assessment, Management and Mitigation.
- Procurement and Commercial Models focusing on whole-life value and partnership.
- Training and development of team.
- Quantum expert opinion with testimony experience.
- Forensic delay expert opinion with testimony experience.
- Process audits and improving client controls.
- Review of delay events and interrogation of programmes.
- Support for Compensation event and variations.
- Commercial closure and certainty.
- Supply chain management
- Cost reviews, resource reviews and ‘what if’ scenarios highlight potential outcomes.
- Assists and quantifies financial cost recovery for our clients.
Dispute Avoidance
Our Dispute Avoidance service is focused on reducing the misunderstanding between the parties, either contractual or non- contractual. We have experience of the common causes of disputes that are
- Failure to properly administer the contract
- Poorly drafted or incomplete/unsubstantiated claims
- Employer/Contractor/Subcontractor failing to understand and/or comply with contractual obligations
- Errors and/or omissions in the contract document and incomplete design information or employer requirements (for Design and Build and D&C).
We work on large infrastructure projects to provide the contracting parties with observations of areas of concern which if not addressed, may lead to the crystallization of a dispute. Our dispute avoidance teams comprise of legal, commercial, construction/planning and behavioral experts.
- Dispute avoidance, management and resolution on payment, final account, extensions of time/loss and expense, variations or compensation events, liquidated and ascertained damages, defective work, design liability and practical completion disputes.
- Global and standard form of contract provisions.
A dispute board or dispute review board or dispute adjudication board is a job site’ dispute adjudication process, typically comprising independent and impartial professionals selected by the contracting parties. Established in the mid- 1970s as a non-traditional approach to reducing conflicts and costs, the key reason was to deal with the issues in hand without disrupting progress of the project.
The use of DRBs is endorsed as a ‘successful technique’ for resolving and avoiding disputes in a timely and cost-effective way by the world bank and mandated if using certain forms of FIDIC and NEC contracts. We have experienced team who appear as dispute board members globally. Our members are independent, which give an excellent neutral view, and the significant expertise and experience benefits the project team, which is invaluable. We can help clients set up dispute boards, run and provide members for the boards who can be actively involved throughout the project and assist the parties in concluding the contract either without disputes, or if disputes arise, to resolve them with the minimum of time and cost so that the parties can concentrate on completing the project.
Our Dispute Avoidance Panel service is focused on reducing the misunderstanding between the parties, either contractual or non- contractual. We have experience of the common causes of disputes that includes failure to properly administer the contract; poorly drafted or incomplete/unsubstantiated claims; employer/contractor/subcontractor failing to understand and/or comply with its contractual obligation; errors and/or omissions in the contract document; and incomplete design information or employer requirements. We act on dispute avoidance panels on large infrastructure projects to provide the contracting parties with observations of areas of concern which if not addressed, may lead to the crystallization of a dispute. Our dispute avoidance panels comprise of legal, commercial, construction/planning and behavioral experts.
Our Dispute Resolution Advisors (DRAs) form part of the team as a neutral member with the motto to avoid disputes in the first place. Our DRAs attend projects once a month to understand progress, review issues and provide advice based on years of successful delivery of major projects in engineering and construction sector. The experienced members of our team can sniff potential issues before they materialize into a claim or a dispute.
We offer standing DABs, that are named in the contract and appointed at the outset. The DAB stays involved in a project from its start. The DAB will make regular site visits, contemporaneously read important communications, become familiar with the parties and key individuals and deal with issues as and when they arise. A standing DAB may be called upon to issue an opinion on a matter and will issue a report after each site visit.
MKC is one of the early signatories of the Conflict Avoidance Pledge aiming to mitigate the financial costs of disputes in the construction and infrastructure industry.
