COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS COUNSEL

The role of contract managers is not well defined. In industry:

• the capability of contract managers is highly varied ranging from administrators who are almost totally reliant on legal and commercial support, through to highly qualified and experienced contract managers who need little or no support and who tend to support other commercial functions and legal counsel.
• there is often confusion and overlap between the role of a highly qualified and experience contract manager and that of commercial manager and legal counsel.
• there is often a large variation in the duties performed by a contract manager, with some being involved only in the pre-contract development and negotiation of contacts, some involved only in the post contract management of a particular contract (i.e. in relation to a package) and some involved throughout the contact lifecycle.
• Many of the duties of personnel in roles such as supply chain/procurement, commercial administration and project secretary are often confused with contract management duties.

The role of legal counsel is better defined generally, but often not in relation to commercial contracts. In industry:

• The capability of legal counsel in relation to commercial contracts is highly varied, often dependent upon the traditional work stream and experience of the lawyer which often tends to include more employment, tax, corporate including M&A, real estate etc. duties than commercial contracts development and negotiation.