A Reminder of the Benefits of a Course in Contract Drafting

Today one of my former Penn Law students sent me the following email:

I just thought I’d write you a quick note and let you know how incredibly helpful your class has to been to me over my last 3 months of law practice. I am drafting all the time—largely because the partners I work for are very impressed with how clear my contracts are and how quickly I can draft them, without sacrificing quality. I use your book constantly. Several partners here also have your book in their offices.

At any rate, I again want to thank you for teaching Contract Drafting at Penn. It was probably the most helpful class I took, in terms of everyday practicality. Hope all is well.

Besides making me feel a little bit more hopeful about my own shortcomings as a teacher, this note also reinforced my feeling that if you’re planning to be a corporate associate, you’d be crazy to turn down the opportunity to take a rigorous course in clear, concise, and effective contract drafting. And if you’re a law school, you’d be crazy not to offer such a course. Of course, finding someone to teach it would likely be a challenge.

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.

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