Alliance Data Systems, Blackstone Group, and “Reasonable Best Efforts”

If anyone is wondering why I’ve been devoting time to efforts standards, have a look at this post on DealBook by Steven Davidoff regarding a development in Blackstone Group’s proposed acquisition of Alliance Data Systems.

For reasons I discuss in MSCD, in this article, and in last week’s blog post, it would be bizarre for a court to hold that reasonable best efforts conveys a meaning different from best efforts.

About the author

Ken Adams is the leading authority on how to say clearly whatever you want to say in a contract. He’s author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, and he offers online and in-person training around the world. He’s also chief content officer of LegalSifter, Inc., a company that combines artificial intelligence and expertise to assist with review of contracts.

2 thoughts on “Alliance Data Systems, Blackstone Group, and “Reasonable Best Efforts””

  1. Surely a lawyer who writes “reasonable best efforts” has slipped up unless they were asked to be ambiguous. Even if you are correct that there is no difference between the various permutations it is still clear that writing “reasonable best efforts” is not using one of the standard phrases.

    Reply

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