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Course Details

This CLE course will provide construction counsel with advanced strategies for amending and modifying standard AIA contract documents. The panel will outline how counsel for owners, developers, and contractors can best modify these standard construction agreements--including drafting global riders to ensure consistency--to enhance project profitability and protect client interests.

Faculty

Description

AIA contract documents are the industry standard for managing contractual relationships in construction and design projects.

But despite their widespread use, AIA standard contracts often fail to protect the interests of particular clients. The AIA documents usually do not address with specificity many elements of highly individualized construction projects, such as pre-construction services, leases, contingencies, and insurance specifics. Failure to address these fundamental issues can place the entire project in jeopardy and trigger the potential for costly litigation.

Further, because of the differences between individual projects, the needs of different owners, and variations in specific jurisdictions, the AIA standard form agreements often require modification. But the AIA standard documents are highly complementary and designed to avoid overlaps and gaps in the rights and duties of the contracting parties. Consequently, counsel must carefully consider amendments because a change to a provision in one section or document may require a corresponding modification in another to avoid inevitable conflicts and inconsistencies.

Listen as our authoritative panel of construction lawyers provides insights and practical guidance for amending and modifying standard AIA contract documents--including drafting global riders to ensure consistency--to enhance project profitability and protect client interests.

Outline

  1. Overview of AIA documents and the 2017 revisions
  2. Common AIA contract issues and gaps
  3. Advanced drafting strategies
    1. Revising existing provisions
    2. Inserting additional clauses
    3. Incorporation by reference of additional documents
    4. Cross-referencing
    5. Global riders
    6. Examples
  4. Final considerations

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What are the most common problems with the AIA standard contracts?
  • What is missing in the AIA documents?
  • What are best practices for modifying and amending these forms?
  • In what ways are AIA documents incomplete?
  • How can counsel incorporate RFPs and LOIs?
  • How can global riders be drafted to modify the standard AIA contracts?
  • What are best practices for ensuring project-wide consistency?
  • What practical drafting strategies will reduce the likelihood of disputes and offer significant advantages if disputes arise?