Yeşim M. Atamer, Ece Baş Süzel and Elliott Geisinger (Eds.), Uluslararası İnşaat Sözleşmeleri ve Uyuşmazlık Çözüm Yolları (International Construction Contracts and Dispute Resolution), İstanbul Uluslararası İnşaat Hukuku Konferansları Serisi – I (İstanbul International Construction Law Conferences Series), XII Levha Publishers, 2016, XXVIII + 236 p.
On 21 February 2015, Istanbul Bilgi University and Schellenberg Wittmer organised the conference on International Construction Contracts and Dispute Resolution – Challenges and Opportunities for Turkish Contractors. The idea was very simple: to bring together professionals of the construction industry, legal practitioners specialising in international construction projects and academia for a practice-oriented and critical discussion on selected issues that contractors are facing. The success of the conference was such that it became the inaugural event of the Istanbul International Construction Law Conferences series which we plan to organize on a yearly basis (www.construction-law.bildi.edu.tr). Just as the 21 February 2015 conference was the first of a series, this book is the inaugural publication of a series that we hope will be long and fruitful.
The February 2015 conference was of particular relevance for Turkish contractors, whose position among the top international contracting companies is by now well known. The nature of large-scale, international construction projects has resulted in international construction contracts having particular features that differentiate them from other commercial contracts. Standard forms of contract have developed which reflect best practices in the construction industry. Along with these forms of contract, the construction industry has favoured special methods of resolving disputes arising out of a construction project.
This book is the collection of the papers written by the speakers on selected topics to which these developments have given rise in practice. It begins with contributions by industry professionals on contract drafting in view of dispute avoidance, on dealing with prospective disputes when they arise in the field and on specific matters that arise in the contractor-subcontractor relationship. The focus then moves to the perspective of construction lawyers on the position of expert witnesses in international arbitration, on several specific issues arising from dispute resolution under the FIDIC forms of contract and finally on FIDIC contracts in light of Turkish construction law. The next three contributions relate to specific issues in international dispute resolution as seen by international practitioners, namely procedures for contractors' and employers' claims (and pitfalls) especially in the framework of FIDIC forms of contract, then the difficulties and challenges related to quantifying claims in international constructions disputes from the lawyer's and from the quantum expert's point of view. The book closes with insights on the roles of arbitral institutions and dispute review boards in the efficient resolution of international construction disputes.
The reader will find all of these topics treated from a concrete and practical standpoint. The contributions reflect entirely the soul of the conference and the key ingredient of its success: this is a book by construction practitioners for construction practitioners, as well as for professionals from the academic world having a keen interest in empirical data.
We cannot close this foreword without expressing our gratitude to all those who made the conference such a success and whose hard work made this publication possible. First and foremost, we thank the speakers for their valuable contributions to the conference and to this book. We are deeply indebted to the Faculty of Law and the WTO Chair of Istanbul Bilgi University for their financial support. Our thanks also extend to Research Assistants Yasemin Kabaklıoğlu, Gözde Kasap, Gökçe Kurtulan and Attorneys-at-Law Fulya Görer and Av. Stephen Holder for their endless efforts in putting the conference as well as this book so perfectly together. As always, XII Levha Publications and Erol Öz have tried to meet our every request and managed to publish the book in a very short time, we are grateful to them.
Yeşim M. Atamer | Ece Baş Süzel | Elliott Geisinger
Istanbul | Geneva, February 2016
