- Title
- Contract information asymmetry: legal disconnect within the project team
- Creator
- Padroth, Cassandra; Davis, Peter R.; Morrissey, Michael
- Relation
- Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction Vol. 9, Issue 3, no. 04517015
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)LA.1943-4170.0000231
- Publisher
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Legal knowledge in construction has never been more important. Construction contracts are complex and plagued with ambiguities resulting in contract misinterpretations and misunderstandings leading to conflicts, disputes, and project failure. The endemic nature of disputes in the Australian construction industry continues to generate research into causes and mitigation strategies. However, despite evidence of a lack of in-depth legal knowledge being a major cause of construction disputes, there is a lack of research into this problematic risk. To address this gap, this research explores the legal disconnect emanating from a lack of in-depth legal knowledge within the project team. A mixed method design examines secondary sourced research within a literature review followed by semistructured interviews. In-depth interviews were completed with construction professionals in Australia to illustrate the significance of the legal disconnect within contract management. Research undertaken demonstrates that the extent of the legal disconnect in construction management is widespread within the Australian construction industry. Analysis of the findings revealed a gap between the required and the existing level of legal knowledge within the project team. The critical components of contract risk requiring legal knowledge were, change and time management. It is concluded that legal knowledge is required to accurately interpret contracts and to close the gap between the level of required and existing contractual legal knowledge within the project team. This research contributes to the knowledge of construction management by revealing the nature of legal disconnects, while also highlighting the pivotal role of legal knowledge in contract management.
- Subject
- construction contracts; project team; procurement; law; legal knowledge; Australia
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1448499
- Identifier
- uon:43420
- Identifier
- ISSN:1943-4162
- Language
- eng
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