The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and the sanitary and other restrictions imposed by governments around the world as a result, have seriously complicated virtually every aspect of modern economic life.  Numerous business activities have become either impossible or uneconomic as a consequence of the fundamentally altered economic situation; some have by contrast become more profitable.  Many contracts have become serious unbalanced to the extent that one party has a clear interest in either substantially renegotiating the terms or abrogating the contract entirely.

Although the COVID-induced situation may seem unprecedented in living memory, the world has seen cataclysmic events in the past. Different legal systems have various techniques for resolving the resultant challenges.  This seminar brings together experienced lawyers from a number of legal cultures for the purpose of presenting their respective solutions to the problem of unbalanced contracts, and highlighting their common features and their significant differences.