Presented by
Falconbury
Drafting International Commercial Agreements in English - Summer School
This course will enable you to draft clauses from international commercial agreements and legal correspondence with confidence. It will also give you a greater understanding of legal vocabulary and aspects of English contract law.
8-11 July 2025 »
from £1699
- Format: Classroom
- CPD: 24 hours for your records
- Certificate of completion
Course overview
Most international agreements are drafted in the English language irrespective of the nationality of contracting parties. Language errors in the text and unclear and inconcise phrasing cause confusion and can ultimately lead to a dispute if they go unnoticed during the contract drafting stage.
By attending this course you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the common pitfalls, key areas of risk and have a full understanding of the latest drafting techniques in English.
These intensive four days with our expert trainer have been designed to offer a practical solution to your drafting challenges. Throughout the course the expert trainer will use a balanced mix of theory, exercises and discussion alongside sample clauses and case studies to help embed the learning.
There will be plenty of time during this summer school to ask your questions and get clarity on contract drafting, legal writing technicalities and solutions to specific clauses. By enhancing your skills and knowledge you will ensure you protect your organisation against unnecessary risk and be successful in your role.
This training course is part of our Commercial Contracts Training Course collection which has been designed for the in-house lawyer.
Benefits of attending
By attending this highly practical and participative course you will:
- Learn how to recognise drafting inaccuracies to effectively re-draft poorly written clauses
- Draft effective standard clauses that can be used across the organisation to manage exposure to legal risk
- Understand the principles of using plain English within your contract to reduce uncertainty
- Focus on agreement structure, linguistic clarity and accuracy to draft with confidence
- Discover how to avoid over complex sentences and structures to limit the risk of dispute
- Develop more effective legal writing skills that can be used in all your business communications
Who should attend?
This summer school is relevant whether you work in private practice, in-house or for an institution. Attending will enable you to be more effective in oral and written communication and contract drafting, as well as improve your listening and reading skills.
This summer school has been specifically designed for:
- Lawyers working in industry and government
- Lawyers in banks and financial institutions
- Lawyers in private practice
- Lawyers and corporate executives involved in the drafting of contracts in English
This course will cover:
Introduction to clear drafting Part 1
- Structuring clauses
- Avoiding old fashioned language
- Avoiding repetition and superfluous language
Introduction to clear drafting part 2
- Avoiding ambiguity
- Ensuring completeness
- Avoiding sentence interruptions
Legal vocabulary
- Verb/noun collocation
Practical workshop: Contract redrafting Part 1
Re-drafting exercises based on extracts from a distribution agreement and a manufacturing agreement
During this practical session, participants will apply the principles learnt to redrafting a range of clauses from international commercial agreements. The expert trainer will review the redrafting both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Legal vocabulary
- Countable nouns
- Collocation
Legal correspondence
Review of the key phrases in legal correspondence including:
- standard openings and closing
- making requests
- differences between UK and US English
Practical workshop: Legal correspondence Part 1
During this practical session participants will apply the principles learnt to the redrafting of a badly written email.
The expert trainer will review the redrafted email both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Contract Law Part 1: Pre-contract agreements
- Heads of agreement, letters of intent and pre-contract liability
- Duty of good faith
- Overview of the terms of a confidentiality agreement
- Enforceability of confidentiality agreements
Practical workshop: Contract Redrafting Part 2
During this practical session participants will apply the principles and skills of clear redrafting to a clause from a confidentiality agreement.
The expert trainer will review the redrafting both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Contract Law Part 2: The formation of a contract and The contents of a contract
- Requirements to form a contract
- Express and implied terms
- Exemption clauses
Legal vocabulary and grammar
British/American legal and commercial vocabulary
Practical workshop: Legal correspondence Part 2
During this practical session participants will apply the principles learnt to write a letter of advice regarding a clause from a commercial agreement.
The expert trainer will review the letter of advice both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Practical workshop: Contract redrafting Part 3
During this practical exercise participants will redraft a clause from the employment agreement of a managing director.
The expert trainer will review the redrafted clause both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Contract Law Part 3: Remedies for breach of contract
- Review of the contract law presentations made during day 2
- Assessment of damages
- Liquidated damages and penalty clause
- Specific performance
Practical workshop: Legal Correspondence Part 3 - Writing legal advice on a contract case study
During this practical session participants will draft a letter of advice based on the remedies for breach of contract.
Both individual and group work exercises will be undertaken with results reviewed in a group forum and constructive feedback and guidance supplied by the expert trainer.
Legal vocabulary
- Review of collocation
Practical workshop: Contract drafting Part 1
During this practical session participants will draft clauses from the following agreements:
- Membership agreement of a health club
- Commercial lease
The expert trainer will review the drafted clauses both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Legal writing
- Review of the rules of punctuation
Practical workshop: Proofreading
During this practical exercise participants will try to locate and correct a number of errors in a document including punctuation, spelling and grammar.
Grammar
- Legal vocabulary/clauses from commercial agreements
Contract Law Part 4: Presentation on boiler plate clauses and force majeure
- Review of the contract law presentation made in Day 3
- Force majeure and the doctrine of frustration
- Boiler plate clauses including
- No waiver
- Entire agreement
- Severability
- Assignment
Practical workshop: Contract Drafting Part 3
During this practical session participants will draft a clause from an escrow agreement.
The expert trainer will review the drafted clause both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Practical workshop: Contract drafting 4
During this practical session participants will draft a clause from a license agreement
The expert trainer will review the redrafting both individually and in a group forum and will provide constructive feedback and guidance.
Alan Simmons
Consultant
Alan Simmons LLB (Hons) in Law with French , LLM in International Human Rights Law, RSA CETEFLA. Alan is a highly experienced trainer of legal English who has been working with international lawyers across the globe for nearly 30 years. He shares his expertise by delivering legal and business skills and language training to lawyers, other professionals and businesspeople to enhance their skills at drafting concise and watertight contract clauses in the English language.
He qualified as a solicitor in England having studied law in the UK, Strasbourg and the European University Institute in Florence and then went on to train as a solicitor in an international law firm. He spent some years practising commercial law in law firms in London in the areas of corporate law, construction law, employment law, intellectual property, advertising and media law.
He is fluent in French and Portuguese and has good written and spoken Spanish, Italian and Albanian. He has completed legal translations from French, Spanish and Portuguese and he also has conversational German, Japanese, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian and Romanian. His passion for different writing systems in languages means he has learnt to read and write Hindi, Persian, Japanese and Arabic.
He has used his skills and experience to successfully train legal staff from junior counsel to judges in all elements of international commercial law across the world. Alan is a dynamic trainer and applies a highly interactive style to ensure complete understanding and an enjoyable learning experience.
NEW higher discounts for multiple bookings - bring your colleagues to make your training budget go further:
- 30% off the 2nd delegate*
- 40% off the 3rd delegate*
- 50% off the 4th delegate*
Please contact us for pricing if you are interested in booking 5 or more delegates
8-11 July 2025
Summer school
Classroom
Rembrandt Hotel
London
09:00-17:00 UK (London)
Timings may be different for each day
Course code 14897
Optional £280/€364/$420 per night
- GBP 1,699 2,099
- EUR 2,449 3,009
- USD 2,805 3,429
Until 03 Jun
- 4 days classroom-based training
- Optional accommodation - 4 nights including breakfast, checking in the day before the course
- Meet presenters and fellow attendees in person
- Lunch and refreshments provided
- Download documentation and certification of completion
- Fair transfer and cancellation policy
Not ready to book yet?
for 7 days, no obligation
* Early booking discounts may not be combined with other discounts or offers. As such, the discounts for 2nd/3rd/4th delegates are based on the full price; and apply only when booking multiple delegates on the same date.
