Training & Mentoring | Construction.Lawyer

---

The Best Dispute Is the One That Never Happens

The best dispute is the one that never materialises at all. After three decades of resolving complex construction conflicts across Australia, we have observed the same pattern repeatedly: the vast majority of disputes in adjudication or litigation could have been avoided if the project team had stronger contract awareness and the discipline to address issues before they metastasised into formal claims. That is why we established our Training & Mentoring practice — to equip your people with the skills to keep projects on track without calling a lawyer in crisis mode.

Our training is not generic material delivered by presenters who have never set foot on a construction site. Every session is led by one of our dual-qualified Engineer-Lawyers — professionals who hold both engineering qualifications and legal practising certificates and who have personally administered contracts and navigated disputes on real projects. We speak the language of construction because we have lived it. Our programs are customised to your organisation's needs, your contract forms, and your team's capability level. Services are available from all five offices — Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Darwin — delivered on-site, in your offices, or via video conference for regional teams.

---

Contract Administration Training

Effective contract administration is the single most important discipline in dispute avoidance, yet it remains one of the most poorly understood aspects of project delivery. Our Contract Administration Training workshops are designed for site-based personnel — project managers, site engineers, contract administrators, and supervisors — who are on the front line of contract performance but often lack formal training in the legal obligations embedded in their agreements.

We begin with contract awareness — teaching participants how to read and interpret their contract with confidence, identifying key clauses governing variations, extensions of time, payment, defects, and termination. We walk through standard form contracts including AS 4000, AS 2124, AS 4902, GC21, and NEC4, explaining how the general conditions, special conditions, and annexures interact. We place particular emphasis on variation notification procedures, because failure to give timely notice under most standard forms operates as a time-bar that extinguishes entitlements. Participants learn how to identify a variation, when notice must be given, and how to document the instruction properly.

We also cover extension of time claim preparation — the difference between compensable and non-compensable delays, concurrent delay analysis, and how to compile claims that satisfy the contract and the adjudicator. Payment claim preparation under the relevant security of payment legislation in each jurisdiction — the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld), the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW), and their equivalents — ensures your team understands the strict deadlines and evidentiary thresholds that apply. We also devote attention to record-keeping best practices, because the party with better records almost always prevails. Every workshop includes templates, checklists, and flowcharts developed from our practice and refined over decades in the field.

---

Claims Preparation Training

Even the most well-administered project will encounter events that give rise to legitimate claims. The difference between a claim that succeeds and one that fails often comes down to preparation. Our Claims Preparation Training equips your commercial and project management teams with the technical skills to build robust, defensible claims.

We teach your team how to identify potential claims early — before the full financial impact crystallises — so notices can be issued within required time frames and evidence preserved while fresh. We cover documentary evidence requirements: contemporaneous site diaries, correspondence, photographs, meeting minutes, and third-party reports. Your team will learn what evidence carries weight and how to organise materials that tell a coherent, chronological story. We address cost substantiation techniques — allocating labour, plant, material, and overhead costs to specific events in a way that satisfies an adjudicator's scrutiny.

Our sessions introduce delay analysis basics — critical path methodology, as-planned versus as-built analysis, and the windows approach. We devote attention to writing claim narratives in plain English, because clarity is more persuasive than jargon. We also walk through preparing claims for adjudication under the security of payment regimes, explaining strict time limits and common pitfalls that cause strong claims to fail procedurally. Throughout, we draw on real examples from our practice — carefully anonymised — to illustrate successful strategies and costly mistakes.

---

Management and Leadership Training

Technical contract knowledge alone is not sufficient to prevent disputes. The way your leaders communicate, negotiate, and make decisions under pressure has an equally profound impact on outcomes. Our Management and Leadership Training is designed for senior project managers, commercial managers, and executives who need to steer their organisations through project complexities without allowing minor disagreements to escalate.

We begin with dispute avoidance strategies — a framework for identifying friction points before they ignite, establishing clear escalation pathways, and creating a culture where contract compliance is a project management discipline. We address communication skills for difficult conversations, equipping your leaders with techniques for managing tense discussions with principals, subcontractors, and consultants while preserving relationships and protecting legal positions. Our training covers negotiation fundamentals — how to prepare, identify underlying interests, and know when to walk away.

We address understanding when to escalate — frameworks for distinguishing between issues resolvable at the project level and those requiring senior management or legal intervention. We also provide guidance on managing external legal advisors: scoping engagements, controlling costs, and evaluating advice. Finally, we introduce decision-making frameworks that help your leadership team evaluate risk and make timely commercial decisions with confidence, even when information is imperfect.

---

Our Mentoring Program

For organisations seeking sustained capability uplift, we offer a structured Mentoring Program that pairs your project managers and contract administrators with one of our Engineer-Lawyers for ongoing, one-on-one development. Unlike concentrated workshops, our mentoring embeds contract expertise over time — building capability incrementally, addressing real issues as they arise, and developing contract-savvy professionals.

The program involves monthly mentoring sessions — in person or by video conference — where your mentee can raise live project issues, review draft correspondence, and seek guidance on contract interpretation. Because our mentors are actively practising construction lawyers, the advice is grounded in today's commercial realities, informed by current case law, and tailored to your contract forms. Over time, this expert guidance transforms how your people approach contract administration and commercial decision-making.

Our mentoring encompasses career development support, helping emerging professionals build skills for senior roles. The objective is not to make your team dependent on us — it is to mentor your people to independently manage contractual complexities with confidence. We measure our success by the disputes that never happen and the careers accelerated through deeper contract knowledge.

---

Customised Training for Your Organisation

Every construction organisation is different. Before we design any program, we take time to understand your business: the projects you deliver, the contract forms you use, the disputes you have encountered, and the skills your team needs to strengthen. We then build a program addressing your specific requirements, delivered where and when it works for your operations.

Our training has been delivered to contractors, subcontractors, government agencies, and developers across Australia — from infrastructure contractors in Sydney and Melbourne to resource sector operators in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Whether you need a half-day workshop or a twelve-month mentoring program, we have the flexibility to deliver.

Call us today on 1300 710 864 to discuss your training and mentoring needs, or to arrange a consultation with one of our Engineer-Lawyers. Let us help your team build the contract awareness and commercial confidence that keeps projects profitable, relationships intact, and disputes off the table.

---

Construction.Lawyer — Australia's only RICS-regulated construction law firm. Dual-qualified Engineer-Lawyers with 30+ years of first-hand project development experience. Offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Darwin.