International Business Contracts: Structures, Negotiation, Conflict Avoidance and Resolution

Mål og innhald

The course starts with an introduction to the technology of drafting agreements. It will show that innovative and successful institutional design does not only depend on a knowledge of the given legal repertoire and "cook
books" but also on a prior consideration of economic incentive theory. We will shortly look at the theoretical premises of economic analysis of institutions, specifically at the theory of incentive compatible contracts, e.g. self-enforcing agreements. We will then turn to the structure and individual clauses of important long-term contracts such as concession agreements, joint ventures, turn-key contracts, franchise agreements. The example of a hypothetical contract for seabed mining will inter alia illustrate the close relation between drafting laws and contracts - and the differences. Moreover, we will explore the techniques of "conflict screening" in large business arrangements where the parties use "filters" for sorting out specific foreseeable contingencies by referring them to expert decision-making bodies before redress to a court may be sought. We conclude with an overview on regulation by consensus between the state and firms and the problem of defining a proper relation between requisite institutional innovation and compliance with existing regulation.

Læringsutbyte/resultat

The students should after the course be able to understand the structure and content of complex business contracts and their relations to economic incentives, and to understand the dispute settlement systems in business contracts.

Undervisningssemester

Spring.

Undervisningsspråk

English.

Krav til forkunnskapar

Three years of university studies.

Tilrådde forkunnskapar

Three years of law and/or economic studies. JUS270-2-A Economic analysis of Law (recommended prerequisite).

Fagleg overlapp

No academic overlapping with courses at the Law Faculty in Bergen.

Undervisning og omfang

Lectures.

Obligatoriske arbeidskrav

None.

Vurderingsformer

Three hours school exam.

A - E for passed, F for failed.

Exam language:

• Question paper: English
• Answer paper: English

Support materials allowed during school exam:

See section 3-5 of the Supplementary Regulations for Studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen.

Special regulations about dictionaries:

• According to the Regulations for Studies, one dictionary is permitted support material during the examination. Bilingual dictionaries containing for example both Norwegian-English and English-Norwegian are considered as one dictionary.
• Bilingual dictionaries to/from the same two languages - for example Norwegian-English/English-Norwegian - in two different volumes are also considered as one dictionary (irrespective of publisher or edition).
• Dictionaries as described above cannot be combined with any other types of dictionaries.
• Any kind of combination which makes up more than two physical volumes is forbidden.
• In case a student has a special need for any other combination than the above mentioned, such combination has to be clarified with/approved by the course coordinator minimum two weeks before the exam. Students who have not been granted permission to have a special combination minimum two weeks before the exam will be subject to the usual regulations (Section 3-5) about examination support materials.

Emneevaluering

According to administrative arrangements for evaluating courses at the Law Faculty

Kontaktinformasjon

Course teacher: Guest Professor Erich Schanze

Administrative contact: elective-courses@jurfa.uib.no