IT contracts and dispute management: A practitioner's guide to the project lifecycle, 2nd edition. Elgar commercial law and practice series. By Steven Baker, Lawrence Akka, Rachel Glass, London, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. 2023. pp. 1‐530

• Published date: 01 March 2024
• Author: Wendrila Biswas,Debarun Chakraborty
• Date: 01 March 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21413

BOOK REVIEW

IT contracts and dispute management:

A practitioner's guide to the project lifecycle,

2nd edition. Elgar commercial law and practice

series

By Steven Baker, Lawrence Akka, Rachel Glass, London, UK:

Edward Elgar Publishing. 2023. pp. 1-530

Wendrila Biswas

1

| Debarun Chakraborty

2

1

Department of Management & Social Sciences, Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, India

2

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Nagpur, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India

Email: debarun84@gmail.com

The book ‘IT Contracts and Dispute Management’is an in depth exploration of the legal issues

associated with technology project agreements and provides essential advice and provisions for

dispute resolution. Often it has been witnessed that the legal and regulatory complexities per-

taining to technology projects remain un-discussed. On the other hand, a radical shift of busi-

ness into cyberspace has triggered the intensity of disputes in IT projects. Thus the book clearly

delineates the legal risks, liabilities, challenges and claims that may arise in each phase of an IT

project and the proactive checks and negotiation that can be made to resolve the wrangle.

The book is a comprehensive analysis of the legal issues such as contracts, litigation and dis-

pute management which might arise at each phase in management of a technology project. It

has a well-knit structure and entails five essential parts comprising 21 chapters. Part A of this

edition—Outset—Birth of Technology Project includes three chapters that primarily focus on

careful selection of a contracting partner, creating an Invitation to Tender (ITT) featuring the

requirements, specification and description of the technology project; submission of tenders

depending on the terms and conditions of ITT followed by letter of intent. The segment also

focuses on liability for pre-contractual statements during the course of negotiation of the project

as well as for negligent misrepresentations. The part ends with highlighting the risks associated

with inadequate consideration of project methodology, inconsistent documents and inappropri-

ate use of essential terms in contracts.

Part B—Nurturing, Maintaining and Delivering the Project has seven chapters that highlights

the statement of work outlining the scope of work being provided, project deliverables and

goals; consequences for not abiding by the contractual terms; project management through bet-

ter coordination with vendors and customers, assessing the impact of changes in the project

and documentation retention; obligations pertaining to delivery and acceptance of the project;

testing; penalties on damage of service credits and dealing with contractual delay.

Received: 18 September 2023 Revised: 20 September 2023 Accepted: 24 September 2023

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21413

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