Introduction
Summer is here, and it’s the perfect time to relax and immerse yourself in reading. If you’re a contract manager, project manager or any other function involved in preparing, negotiating or monitoring contracts, we’ve got just what you need to make your summer a studious one.
In this article, we have selected a series of books on contract management that you should (re)discover. Accessible books for a relaxed but studious summer. So sit back on your chilienne, pour yourself your favorite cocktail, put on your sunglasses and dive into our summer book recommendations!
1 “The Contract Manager: tools and best practices” by Eric Le Quellnec and Alain Bensoussan
Let’s start with a French classic. Co-authored by the prolific Alain Bensoussan, this is THE French-language reference book on contract management.
It includes best practices, tools and basics for starting out or (re)discovering contract management.
The best way to find out what it’s like to be a contract manager.
2. “Negotiating the impossible: how to break deadlocks and resolve ugly conflicts without money or muscle” by Deepak Malhotra
A technical but enjoyable book, with many concrete illustrations and situations you’re sure to find yourself in!
A book written by a Harvard professor, to be discovered, which will give you some keys (and a little hope) for desperate situations, negotiations that seem lost in advance.
On the menu: lots of human relations, and a framework based on empathy, process and perspective!
3. “Contract law” by Dimitri Houtcieff
If you’re looking for an accessible and concise introduction to the basics of contract law, this is the book for you.
In this 6th edition, published in 2022, Dimitri Houtcieff revisits two key concepts: contract formation and contract effects.
Whether you’re a contract manager, company director or project manager, this book will provide you with a solid grounding in contract law.
4. “Fundamentals of Contract and Commercial Management” by International Association for Contract and Commercial Management
Admittedly, it’s still an English-language book… but what a book! We’re talking about the reference work in contract management, at least in the USA (where contract management originated). In fact, it was published by the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM), now known as “The International Association of Contract and Commercial Management”.World Commerce and Contracting“.
This book, aimed at non-lawyers, reviews the concepts, methods and fundamentals of contract management in a highly operational, non-academic way.
5. “Contract management practice” by Grégory Leveau
This is the first French guide on the subject (in 2013). Even though this book is celebrating its 10th anniversary, it hasn’t aged much, since the concepts it covers (what is the role of the contract manager? what are the contract manager’s missions? etc.) are still relevant today.
The book is also part of the reference framework used by the European Contract Management School(E2CM), France’s leading contract management training center.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a contract management professional or simply interested in the subject, this selection of books will ensure that you’re well looked after over the summer, and that you can make the most of your few well-deserved weeks off to combine contracts and Piña Colada (who’d have thought).
In short, from books for beginners in contract management to practical guides to contract management and strategic approaches to negotiation and monitoring, there’s something for everyone in our selection.
Enjoy your reading!
