Commercial disputes are never welcome but if they do arise the last thing you want is to waste time and money dealing with something that was avoidable.

Dentons is hosting a series of roundtable discussions to outline the most common contractual pitfalls and offer practical tips on how to avoid them. We will also offer suggestions on what to do if a dispute arises. These will be interactive discussions in order to maximise the benefit for the attendees. They will give you an opportunity to discuss frequent issues that you may have and draw on the experience of dispute resolution specialists. The sessions will be hosted by Rob Francis (Dispute Resolution Associate) and James Fairbairn (Dispute Resolution Partner).

The first roundtable session will deal with parties disagreeing over whether a contractual term can be relied on. This can include arguments between parties over what the clause actually means, whether the contract was varied, whether the term was unfair or whether one party's conduct means it is prevented from enforcing that term.

These roundtable discussions will be of key interest to commercial directors, sales directors and other personnel dealing with contracts and negotiations with suppliers and customers. Please do book your space, as there will be limited places available.

If you are interested in participating in the sessions but cannot make the first discussion, please do let us know so we can ensure you are on the invitation list for the subsequent sessions in the series. More information will be provided at the first discussion on the subsequent sessions.

These will include:

• pitfalls which may bring a contract to an end, such as misrepresentation, mistake and duress;
• pitfalls arising when forming a contract;
• pitfalls with non-disclosure agreements and heads of terms; and
• pitfalls when things go wrong: breaches of contract and termination.  

For the first discussion on 12 June, RSVP by 5 June.