After two decades helping consultants solve disputes, barrister Tony Horan has plenty of “war stories” to share – but only within the four walls of the Contracts for Consultants seminar room. As Tony passes the 2,000 participants milestone, we asked him for tips on negotiating fairer contracts.

A barrister, mediator, construction and insurance law expert and member of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Tony has been “at the sharp-end of contracts” for more than 20 years. He has represented and advised building professionals and consulting engineers from all disciplines, helping them to resolve disputes and navigate professional negligence and insurance litigation.

“What does a vague term in a scope of services mean? It means whatever the barrister says it means, when they are drafting the claim against you,” Tony says.

Contracts for Consultants is an intensive training course, either online or in person, designed to help people with both limited and extensive experience to better understand professional services contracts and their various terms and conditions. 

“I train people to recognise and assess the risks that might have low probability but can have devastating consequences.”

Contracts often pass risk unfairly down the supply chain to the party least able to manage that risk. Tony calls this “baseball bat contracting”.

“Clients can be driven by lawyers seeking to eliminate risk. Lawyers draft these contracts, and therefore effectively become the decision makers.”

Not all countries have such adversarial approaches Tony notes, pointing to the collaborative contracting model adopted by the United Kingdom. Even in California, with its highly litigious reputation, Tony recently connected with a counterpart who was “appalled” at the time and money Australian firms spend negotiating consultancy contracts. “In California they have a proforma contract and negotiate a scope of services.”

Consult Australia champions eight ‘model client’ behaviours, including the avoidance of non-standard or heavily amended contracts, as well as ‘collaborative contracting’ principles which maintain proportionate liability, balance rights and obligations, and fairly allocate risk.

“Collaborative contracting encourages all parties to sit around the table before entering dispute and litigation,” Tony says. This model has been piloted in Australia, most notably with Sydney Water. 

Tony draws on his deep legal expertise to engage participants in dynamic discussion about real-life examples. “It’s the opposite of chalk and talk,” he says.  Tony offers strategies and language for consultants to use in negotiating their contracts.

One previous course participant is Jade Kaye, Vice President of the Australian Institute of Project Management.

“As careers progress, people often find themselves having to deal with contracts without understanding what they mean. And they don’t have to understand until such time as a project goes off course and they become liable,” Jade says.

When Jade attended the course, some participants were “shocked” to discover how little knowledge they had of the contracts they were signing. “Some of the words in contracts can be ambiguous. Clauses can be hidden. Tony has an excellent way of breaking down phrases and clauses to show how the choice of words could impact liabilities.”

Tony is passionate about sharing the lessons he’s learnt over a long career.  

“I walk alongside a lot of people who find themselves in terrible situations. In your career, there's nothing more confronting than a claim of professional negligence. It's the most devastating and difficult time. I work hard to help Consult Australia members avoid that.”

The next Contracts for Consultants course will be held online from 27-28 July. Register now.