The New York Law Journal recently published my article “Copyright and the Contract Drafter.” (Click here for the text of the article.) If the subject matter sounds familiar, that’s probably because this article consists of a mash-up of my two blog items on the subject. (Here and here.) This is the first time I’ve recycled [...]
A couple of items caught my eye in the most recent issue of “Business Law Today.” One is an article by Susan J. Irion entitled “The New Classroom—Learning How to Draft Contracts in the Real World.” It discusses how law firms are using training in contract drafting to sharpen the skills of their business lawyers, [...]
MSCD contains a section on overuse of initial capitals (13.28–34). Here’s what I say in MSCD 13.30 regarding titles: Drafters invariably use initial capitals when referring to officer titles (The certificate must be signed by the President of Acme), but authorities on general English usage recommend that one only do so when the title is [...]
Earlier this year, I published an article suggesting why law firms might want to think about bringing in an outside speaker—presumably moi!—to speak about contract drafting. (Go here for a copy of that article.) But when I speak at law firms, I make a point of discussing some potential obstacles to associates’ changing the way [...]
A standard ingredient of contract boilerplate is the “successors and assigns” provision. Here’s what a run-of-the-mill successors and assigns provision looks like: This agreement is binding upon, and inures to the benefit of, the parties and their respective permitted successors and assigns. I’ve long considered the successors and assigns provision to be one of the [...]
Last Thursday I taught my first class of the new semester. It prompted the following unconnected thoughts. *** I was reminded how pleased I am to be teaching at Penn Law. Why? Because the facilities are excellent and the students are smart and eager to learn. I went to Penn Law. When I graduated, I [...]
Form and substance? I don’t think so. In contracts, the phrase is used exclusively in references to documents to be delivered, as in an opinion of counsel in form and substance satisfactory to the Buyer. As with most “doublets,” the suspicion is that it mainly serves to add a rhetorical flourish, an easy gravitas. On [...]
Dennis Kennedy recently mentioned on his web site a new article on document assembly. It’s by Darryl R. Mountain, it’s called Disrupting Conventional Law Firm Business Models Using Document Assembly, and it can be found in the International Journal of Law and Information Technology. (A pdf version is available here.) It’s a thoughtful article, but [...]
I’m pleased to announce that between November 20 and December 4, 2006, I’ll be holding in Geneva, Switzerland, a series of seminars on contract drafting. I’m fortunate to have as my sponsors ACC Europe (the European chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel) and Hogan & Hartson. On November 20, 22, 24, 27 and 29 [...]
