logo

mensenvoorzaken

The legal 500 Image3 Image5 Chambers Europe Image4
Inhouse education & training

Zwartbol Advocaten regularly provide in-house training and courses for companies on topics such as national and/or international contracting, general terms and conditions (the so-called battle of the forms), specific contractual clauses in negotiations and after the contract has been signed, etc..


The audiences for these interactive courses include board members, managers, project managers, procurement officials, sales representatives, contract negotiators and anyone else involved in contract formation and monitoring, whether for industrial companies, shipyards, (maritime) equipment manufacturers and suppliers, OEM’s, banks or engineering companies, both large and small.

All training sessions and courses can be designed to focus on and effectively deal with the legal issues surrounding the company in question in practice. Usually a number of recently concluded contracts or forms of contract drawn up by the company in question are used as a steppingstone to substantiate the course. Such contractual documents provide almost instantaneous insight into the manner and topics of contracting that are relevant to the business practice of the company in question. Naturally, all documents are treated with the strictest confidentiality.


Such inhouse course in general consists of the following:

  • Introduction to general contract law

  • General terms and conditions; the battle of the forms

  • Regularly occurring specific contractual provisions and clauses

  • All in Dutch law context as well as in international contracting context


The part of the course on specific contract clauses revolves around themes that are relevant to company practice, especially when a contract has already been concluded. Some of the generally recurrent clauses are listed below. Naturally, the list can always be extended to include specific clauses and legal issues that are relevant to the company in question:


  • Liability and limitation/exclusion of liability

  • Additional work and relevant specific regulations in combination with disruption discussions

  • LD clauses

  • Warranty clauses

  • IP rights attached to design, drawings and so forth

  • Transfer of title/Delivery

  • Applicable law/Choice of forum clause (which court/arbitration).


The object is always to deal with these themes in depth on the basis of concrete cases and to give the participants the opportunity to exchange personal practical experiences per topic in an interactive setting. Other topics can always be included or discussed on the spot. All in-house courses/training sessions are tailor-made in this respect.


The training is intensive in nature and can be held in Dutch as well as in fluent English. The lawyer/trainer of Zwartbol Advocaten see to it that the participants are challenged to become actively involved in all aspects of the issues that are discussed. Some of the participants’ recent reactions:


“Your training was inspiring and your dedication even more. We are considering a new one.”

“The workshop was a hot topic during lunch and even during the MT meeting.”

“Everyone agrees that it could have been an incredibly dull workshop, but as it turned out we found it to be a

highly educational and enjoyable experience.”

“The discussion about our ‘terms and conditions’, offers and contracts was very much stimulated because of it.”

“Thrilling workshop”

“Giving a clear overview of the do's and don'ts regarding our contract management”

“I never expected that the subjects of this course could be handled and explained in such an entertaining way”

“An interactive and inspiring speaker with strong practical examples”


The course lasts for approximately 2.5 to 3 hours. The course is followed by an informal gathering that all participants are expected to attend, which is why they are always planned as a morning session followed by a joint lunch, or an afternoon session followed by a drink and a snack. The group size typically varies between 6 as a minimum and 25 participants as a (flexible) maximum in order to keep the interactive character of the course maintained.

Bas Ort, who will be the lecturer for this training, has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating all sorts of national and international contracts. In 2015 Bas has given various inhouse courses at companies as well as with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on the topic of ‘International Contracting – General Terms and Conditions in relation to the Incoterms’. This ICC training was rated by the participants with an 8. Also in 2015 Bas was lecturer at a two day course organized by Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT) titled ‘Contract Management’, which NMT-training was rated by the participants with an average score of 8.7.


For more information concerning this topic, please contact Bas Ort at: ort@zwartbol.eu.


Alblasserdam, January 2016