An Evening with The Contract Law Expert

Sunway University College (SyUC) was proud to host Professor Michael Furmston, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow from the University of Bristol in yet another captivating talk under its Distinguished Speakers’ Series.

The largest auditorium in SyUC was filled to capacity on the evening of May 10th, with the audience ranging from students to working adults from various professions. The overwhelming response was not only due to Professor Furmston being a world-renowned expert on Contract Law, but the topic “Contract Planning and Remedies for Breach of Contract”, was suitable for many if not everyone. As the speaker pointed out, even reserving a hotel room is a type of contract.

When a client approaches a lawyer to draw up a contract, it is the duty of the lawyer to protect the client. In the event of the contract being breached, there must be remedies in place that ‘take care of’ the client. Some of the standard remedies that Professor Furmston expanded on were to calculate the damages and compensate the aggrieved party, to collect a deposit before rendering any service or product and to increase the circumstances by which the contract can be terminated.

Points were succinctly illustrated with real-life cases that Professor Furmston had come across in the course of his career, from property to ship building and to his own particular area of interest, the construction industry. It was an opportune occasion, because many of those present at the talk were interested in or from the construction line. Queries pertaining to contracts in that industry were brought up by the audience including questions on what action can be taken should clients delay payment to contractors and when contractors themselves hold back payment to sub-contractors.

In the midst of the Q&A session, Professor Furmston shared, “Lawyers always say – because it’s true – that it all depends on all circumstances.” His sense of humour in this comment drew laughter from the crowd.

Apart from lecturing at the University of Bristol, Professor Furmston has an extensive list of credentials. Amongst them, a double First Class from Oxford University, First Class in the Bar Exams, and consequently awarded a Certificate of Honour by the University. Educational institutions like the University of Birmingham, Queens University of Belfast and Oxford University have had the honour of having him on their academic staff list. He has also served in various legal bodies all over the world. At last count, there were 322 publications, including books, journal articles, papers and such that were authored by Professor Furmston. He is a Bencher of Gray's Inn and serves on consultancies of many major corporations.