Winning Contract Disputes: Tips for drafting, negotiating, litigating contracts and statements of work

Mark P. Henriques
Mark P. Henriques
Womble Bond Dickinson

Mark’s practice focuses on complex commercial cases, including the defense of class actions and bet-the-company litigation. As lead counsel, he has won four $5M+ class actions filed in North Carolina federal courts since 2018.

Michael R. Overly
Michael R. Overly
Foley & Lardner LLP

Michael Overly is a partner in Foley & Lardner’s Information Technology & Outsourcing Group and Privacy, Security and Information Management Groups.

On-Demand: October 27, 2022

Winning Contract Disputes: Tips for drafting, negotiating, litigating contracts and statements of work

$245.00 3 hour CLE

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Program Summary

Session I - Tips for Drafting, Negotiating, and Litigating Contracts – Mark P. Henriques

In this practical webinar, you’ll learn how to negotiate key contract terms to prevent contract disputes and how to respond when a contract dispute does arise. You’ll learn how to respond to claims that a contract has been breached, when to formally terminate the contact, and the claims, defenses, and strategies to consider when litigating or arbitrating contract cases. Among other things, you’ll learn Key issues to address in the contract.

Key topics to be discussed:

  • Payment terms
  • Defining performance
  • Change of management
  • Dispute resolution and forum selection
  • How to respond to claims of breach
  • Documentation
  • Implementing a litigation hold
  • The role of legal counsel
  • Termination options

Session II - Real-world Techniques for Drafting and Negotiating Statements of Work – Michael R. Overly

This session provides participants with real-world techniques for drafting and negotiating statements of work. Statements of work are found in many types of transactions: professional services, outsourcing, software licensing, cloud services, etc. Unfortunately, they are one of the most neglected and frequently poorly written contract documents. They are also the primary reason for contract disputes, cost overruns, and failure to achieve project schedules. We will discuss common pitfalls in drafting statements, including the most common drafting errors. We will also discuss how to limit the possibility of project overruns and failure to achieve project schedules.

Key topics to be discussed:

  • Understanding what Statements of Work are
  • Key terms and components in Statements of Work
  • Avoiding pitfalls in writing and negotiating Statements of Work
  • Reviewing a checklist of better Statement of Work drafting

This course is co-sponsored with myLawCLE.

Date: October 27, 2022

Closed-captioning available

Speakers

Mark-P.-Henriques_Womble-Bond-Dickinson_FedBarMark P. Henriques | Womble Bond Dickinson

Mark’s practice focuses on complex commercial cases, including the defense of class actions and bet-the-company litigation. As lead counsel, he has won four $5M+ class actions filed in North Carolina federal courts since 2018. He is a leading practitioner in construction, manufacturing, and real estate disputes. Mark has handled claims of fraud, unfair trade practices, on-compete, non-solicit/non-disclosure agreements, and breach of contract, warranty, and fiduciary duty. Mark has served as first chair in many lengthy jury trials and arbitrations. He has won cases before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court. Mark is also a certified mediator and AAA Arbitrator.

Mark was recently elected to Womble’s Firm Management Committee, after 9 years as an elected State Bar Councilor. With more than 30 years of studying clients, Mark is a master at explaining the most complex or technical factual patterns to mediators, arbitrators, judges, and juries. He understands the nuances and works seamlessly with in-house counsel and regularly discusses the key issues they face on his podcast, In-house Roundhouse.

Mark’s combination of trial and extensive e-discovery experience makes him a frequent choice to serve as local counsel to clients around the world.

Mark is Chair of the Editorial Board and Co-Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force.

Representative Matters

Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.

  • Obtained TRO, preliminary injunction and jury verdict for Mid-America Apartments, Inc., one of the largest multi-family developers in the country
  • Won jury verdict and attorneys’ fees for Zillow, NexTag, and Adchemy after month-long trial as local counsel in one of the largest patent cases ever tried in North Carolina
Michael-R.-Overly_Foley-&-Lardner-LLP_FedBarMichael R. Overly | Foley & Lardner LLP
Michael Overly is a partner in Foley & Lardner’s Information Technology & Outsourcing Group and Privacy, Security and Information Management Groups. He is one of the few practicing lawyers who has satisfied the rigorous requirements necessary to obtain the Certified Information System Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) , Information Systems Security Management Professional (ISSMP), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Controls (CRISC), Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP), and Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) certifications.
He writes and speaks frequently regarding negotiating and drafting technology transactions and the legal issues of technology in the workplace, e-mail, and electronic evidence. He has written numerous articles and books on these subjects and is a frequent commentator in the national press (e.g., the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, ABCNEWS.com, CNN, and MSNBC) and has testified before the U.S. Congress regarding online issues.

Agenda

Session I – Tips for Drafting, Negotiating and Litigating Contracts | 2:00pm – 3:40pm

  • Payment terms | 2:00pm – 2:15pm
  • Defining performance | 2:15pm – 2:30pm
  • Change of management | 2:30pm – 2:45pm
  • Dispute resolution and forum selection | 2:45pm – 3:00pm

Break | 3:00pm – 3:10pm

  • How to respond to claims of breach | 3:10pm – 3:40pm
    • Documentation
    • Implementing a litigation hold
    • The role of legal counsel
    • Termination options

Session II – Real-world Techniques for Drafting and Negotiating Statements of Work | 3:40pm – 5:20pm

  • Understanding what Statements of Work are | 3:40pm – 3:55pm
  • Key terms and components in Statements of Work | 3:55pm – 4:10pm

Break | 4:10pm – 4:20pm

  • Avoiding pitfalls in writing and negotiating Statements of Work | 4:20pm – 4:50pm
  • Reviewing a checklist of better Statement of Work drafting | 4:50pm – 5:20pm