SYNOPSIS

Dispute in business is inevitable, and the construction industry is no different. Disputes arise within the construction industry for all sorts of reasons, with several possible ways by which to resolve them. However, although these disputes are often resolvable, they inevitably bring many challenges and legal issues that have to take into consideration.

In order to avoid the disputes, we have to understand what are the traps and pitfalls in construction contracts. Even if we may not be able to avoid the disputes completely we may be able to reduce some of them. This course will explore the common problems that exist in construction projects and to seek for possible solutions to overcome them before the disputes escalate.

The traps and pitfall that we seek to explore include:

1.  What are the duties and liabilities of Engineers/Architects and Quantity Surveyors in
     administering construction contracts?
2.  Are Engineers/Architects liable to the Contractors for under or no certification?
3.  Does Contractor entitled to extension of time for delays caused by the Employer?
4.  Under what situations are Contractors entitled to claim for loss & expense for the delay?
5.  What if the late completion is due to concurrent delay by both the Contractor and employer?
6.  When a project is practically completed?
7.  Can the Contractor claim for the variation order which is only issued verbally?
8.  Can the Employer terminate a contract when then contractor is progressing slowly and behind
     the schedule of the program of work?
9.  Is retention sum trust money?

This seminar will provide a detailed analysis to the above problems and their related issues.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. LAI SZE CHING

Ir. Lai Sze Ching graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from the University of Malaya. He also holds LL.B degree from the University of London and LL.M from the University of Malaya, majoring in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Arbitration Law, Remedy and Construction Law. In addition, he also holds a Certificate of Legal Practice from the Qualifying Board of Malaysia.

Ir. Lai has more than 30 years working experience in the field of construction and property development. He is currently the Managing Director of a consulting firm involved in Project and Contract Management and Contractual Claims. Ir. Lai had been invited to deliver papers on construction, water supply and sewage treatment in various international seminars and conferences. He had also written various articles on ADR, Arbitration and Construction disputes and had conducted talks on Law for Engineers and on Construction Law to local companies and Universities.

Being an accreditator of Engineering Accreditation Council Malaysia, he is also actively involved in the accreditation of local engineering programmes.He is currently a member of the Industry Advisory Panel for Limkokwing University of Creative Technology and Multimedia University. Ir. Lai is also appointed as the Student Ambassador for the External Law Programme of University of London. He is empaneled in the panel of Asia International Arbitration Centre (Arbitrator, Adjudicator & Mediator), Asian Institute of Alternative Dispute Resolution (Arbitrator & Mediator), Borneo International Centre of Arbitration and Mediation (Arbitrator & Mediator), The Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators (Arbitrator) and IEM (Arbitrator).