It is a comprehensive yet highly readable work with clear referencing suitable for any practitioner (or student). The authors have achieved their objective of providing a clear analysis of a broad range of common clauses (in various forms). It has a visible place on my bookshelf, readily available for regular use.
Victor Hamit, InPrint, Law Institute Journal Victoria, March 2019

A considerable amount of the work of commercial courts these days is occupied by construing contracts made between business people. Part of the reason for this is that many business people give what they contemptuously call “the paper work” very low priority and assume that all parties to a transaction will share the same view of the transaction as themselves. The work of the courts is not made easier by the problem that our High Court and the English commercial courts have adopted significantly different approaches to the construction of commercial contracts.

This book aims to assist with these problems. However, it does so in a different way to the approach taken by Lewison and Hughes in their seminal text, The Interpretation of Contracts in Australia (Lawbook Co, 2012). Only one chapter of the present book focuses on how the basic approach to the construction of commercial contracts differs from the approach to “ordinary” contracts. However, that treatment is a good summary of the current position, though it lacks the depth that the citation of a wider selection of utterances from the authorities would have given it.

Apart from the introductory chapter, the other chapters deal with particular aspects of commercial contracts. Thus, Ch 6 deals with entire agreement clauses in 16 pages, Ch 9 deals with contingent conditions in 20 pages and Ch 10, with time provisions in 26 pages. Other chapters are “Notice Provisions”, “Novation”, “Nomination”, “Guarantees”, “Indemnities”, and “Dispute Resolution Clauses”. In each of these chapters, particular problems of construction are addressed, including how the courts have approached standard clauses such as “subject to finance”.

It is good that the authors have taken a different approach to the subject as their book is not a duplication of existing texts, but rather is a useful complementary work to them.
Peter W Young AO, Australian Law Journal, August 2015

This is an excellent reference book for all lawyers who work in the drafting of contracts or in relation to contractual disputes.

The practical experience of the authors’ is evident in the way the book is written. The content is structured in a very logical way. … The book is useful for any practitioner. It is in plain English. It gives very practical advice.

This book will live in the shelf next to my desk as a reference in relation to the construction of all contracts that I need to draft or consider. It is very clear, precise and useful.
Uwe Boettcher, Ethos, ACT Law Society, December 2014

This excellent new work provides substantial practical guidance for both general issues of construction of contracts but more particularly, to issues that arise in relation to the construction of specific clauses frequently encountered in commercial contracts. The Construction and Performance of Commercial Contracts is recommended to all those involved in drafting, implementing and enforcing commercial contracts in Australia.
Peter Lithgow, Australian Business Law Review, October 2014