Archive for September, 2008
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
When in my seminars I discuss the phrase including without limitation, I’m sometimes asked what I think of for example. Here’s my answer: Don’t use for example in contracts to introduce lists of items, but by all means use it to introduce illustrative scenarios. First, let’s consider including. It can be used to introduce a [...]
Posted in Select Usages | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
The second edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting has been out for less than two months, and we’ve already sold almost all of the first printing. So the response has been positive, to say the least. But I’d appreciate your input on MSCD‘s binding. The first printing used “Wire-O” binding, like that [...]
Posted in Odds and Ends, Uncategorized | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
The lead item in the September 2008 YourABA, the ABA’s e-newsletter for members, is a Q&A with yours truly. Click here to go to it. Regular readers of this blog will not be astonished at what I have to say.
Posted in News | No Comments »
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
[Updated October 1, 2008] Consider the following provision: During the term of this agreement and the following 24 consecutive months, the Consultant shall not … In this context, the word consecutive is redundant. The same applies to use of consecutive with other units of time. But consider this provision: The Employee shall spend two months [...]
Posted in Drafting as Writing | 4 Comments »
Saturday, September 20th, 2008
I’ve kicked the tires of a good number of information-technology tools aimed at making the contract process more efficient, but I hadn’t encountered a product that aimed to simplify the task of reviewing a contract drafted by the other side in a transaction. That changed when I was contacted last week by Scott Soloway, founder [...]
Posted in Process | 5 Comments »
Thursday, September 11th, 2008
MSCD 3.38 invites readers to request a free 30-day trial of the Numbering Assistant, the paragraph-numbering tool developed by Payne Consulting Group that allows you to quickly and simply apply one of the two flavors of the MSCD enumeration scheme to any contract in Word. Well, Payne Consulting Group is finally in a position to [...]
Posted in Process | No Comments »
Saturday, September 6th, 2008
The September 8, 2008, issue of the National Law Journal contains my opinion piece “Dysfunctional Drafting.” Click here to go to the online version. By the way, check out the little illustration accompanying the piece.
Posted in News | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
For most of us, using document-assembly to draft contracts remains an apparently distant prospect. But for some, it’s a fact of life. For example, I’ve previously mentioned the AIA’s Contract Documents system. Well, document assembly is sufficiently accepted in the construction industry that it now has a competitor, ConsensusDOCS. But a particularly interesting example of [...]
Posted in Process | 2 Comments »