Engineers' dispute resolution handbook

"I am delighted to commend this handbook to anyone embarking on dispute resolution" - Professor John Uff, CBE, Q C. "No book on dispute resolution addresses such a wide range of subjects" - Ian Luke, Managing Director, Skanska Cementations.

This handbook provides up-to-date information on the various forms of dispute resolution which have recently become available and discusses the more established procedures.

It is written by a team of chartered engineers with hands-on experience and practising barristers from one of the UK's top specialist chambers who deal exclusively with engineering and construction disputes in straightforward language, without jargon and without assuming prior knowledge.To further illustrate key points, this handbook contains: useful model notices; a model mediation position paper; and a multitude of handy check-lists.

Previously an engineer involved in construction disputes had a choice between litigation in the courts or arbitration if the contract permitted it.

There are now seven dissimilar dispute procedures in regular use: arbitration, TCC litigation, expert determination, mediation, adjudication, early neutral evaluation and dispute boards. Engineers need to know the differences between these processes and understand when each one should be used as the consequences of choosing the wrong resolution method can be severe, not least in cost and time.Preventing disputes, this handbook starts by showing how to avoid disputes arising in the first place by drafting clear and fair contracts with a layered dispute resolution clause for example, to reduce the room for misunderstanding.

The authors affirm that keeping proper site records will help to avoid conflicts and demonstrate that the use of dispute boards from the outset can prevent disagreements from reaching the dispute stage.

It also provides practical help. Where a dispute does arise, this handbook provides shrewd guidance on how to deal with the problem.

Extensive chapters detail the most common as well as the lesser-known procedures with additional chapters that provide practical help on where to find the law, how to instruct a lawyer if you need one, what to pay and what to ask.There is also a chapter on international dispute resolution. Throughout the book there are useful check-lists, addresses and model notices such as those used for commencing adjudications or arbitrations and a model mediation position paper.

About the editor: Dr Gaitskell acts as a Queen's Counsel in Keating Chambers, where he specialises in engineering and construction disputes.

Dr Gaitskell is also a chartered engineer, a former Vice-President of the IEE and a former Senator of the Engineering Council.

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Chairman of the Joint IEE/IMechE Committee on Model Forms.