REVERA Kazakhstan has summarised the results of its event dedicated to IT Disputes

18.06.2026

On 11 June, a meetup of REVERA Kazakhstan experts dedicated to IT contracts, change management in projects and strategies for resolving disputes in the IT sector took place at Most IT Hub in Almaty.

The event was held in the format of a practical discussion: the experts examined, step by step, how IT businesses should formalise contractual relationships, which provisions are truly important when a conflict arises, and how to act if a dispute has already arisen within an IT project.

An IT project rarely ends in exactly the same configuration in which it was described at the outset. The business objective changes, new integrations appear, third-party services are connected, and the technology stack is updated — and, together with this, the legal picture of the project also changes.

At the REVERA Kazakhstan offline meeting, the experts discussed why a template services agreement is not sufficient in IT, how to record project changes and which evidence becomes decisive when a contract turns into a dispute.

What was discussed at the event

The meetup programme was built around two key blocks: preventing disputes through high-quality contractual work and defence strategies in IT disputes.

In the first part, participants discussed IT contracts: why traditional contractual structures do not always work in IT projects, how to build change management in projects with constantly changing requirements, and which contractual provisions determine the parties’ position in advance in the event of a potential dispute.

In the second part, the focus shifted to IT disputes: how they differ from classic commercial conflicts, how to build the evidentiary basis, what role is played by correspondence, the statement of work, acceptance certificates, minutes and other documents, and when it is appropriate to choose pre-action settlement, mediation or litigation.

Several key takeaways

1. A contract does not prevent a conflict; it sets the rules for exiting it.
Even a strong contract does not guarantee the absence of a dispute. Its practical value lies in defining in advance how changes are to be recorded, how the result is to be accepted, how evidence is to be preserved and how pre-action mechanisms are to be initiated.

2. Change management must be not merely well-designed, but enforceable in practice.
Jira, emails, follow-ups, minutes and push confirmations work only when the parties understand their legal consequences and actually comply with the procedure.

3. Source code is not the same as rights to the product.
The customer may receive the code but not acquire exclusive rights. The chain of title must be closed through employment documents, assignments, acceptance certificates, agreements with contractors and verification of open source components.

The practical focus of the meeting

The meetup was aimed at those who regularly deal with IT contracts and IT disputes: IT project managers, CTOs, in-house lawyers, external advisers, founders, product managers and business representatives working with contractors.

Particular attention was paid not to theoretical constructs, but to practical situations: what to do if project requirements have changed, the result has not been accepted in full, the parties have different understandings of the scope of work, or a dispute arises over rights to the developed product.

At the end, participants were able to ask questions to the experts and discuss practical cases as part of the Q&A session and networking.

We thank the participants and the event experts for the detailed discussion, in-depth analysis of the topic and active participation.

We will soon share photo materials and meetup materials in interview format — please follow our announcements.