Learned Helplessness and Contract Drafting

Here’s how Wikipedia describes “learned helplessness”: Learned helplessness is the condition of a human or animal that has learned to behave helplessly, failing to respond even …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Process | Leave a comment

Hey, Bar Associations! Want Your CLE Session to Be Well Attended? Make It About Contract Drafting

In my experience, people will turn out for continuing-legal-education sessions on contract drafting. For example, at those annual meetings of the Association of Corporate Counsel …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Seminars | Leave a comment

“Indemnify For, From, and Against”

In the discussion with Brian Buckham that gave rise to today’s other post on indemnification, Brian also mentioned use of the triplet for, from, and …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | Leave a comment

“Indemnify From” Versus “Indemnify For”

Another of the speakers at last week’s CLE session in Boise organized by the Idaho State Bar (see this post) was Brian Buckham, of IDACORP, …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 10 Comments

“Primarily”

At last Friday’s CLE session in Boise, I sat in on a lunchtime presentation by Ken Howell, of the law firm Hawley Troxell, on recent …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 2 Comments

Notes from the Road: Idaho

Greetings from Boise! I’ve spent most of the week in Idaho at the request of the Idaho State Bar. The first stop was Coeur d’Alene …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Notes from the Road | 1 Comment

Tactics for Tackling Inertia: Green, Yellow, and Red

In this post and this post I explain why my approach to contract language doesn’t favor clarity over avoiding risk. There’s no plausible reason for …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Process | Leave a comment

LawInsider.com: A New Database of EDGAR Contracts

A site called LawInsider.com has launched what it describes as a searchable database consisting of every contract on the SEC’s EDGAR system—over 250,000 contracts. And …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Technology | 2 Comments

Back to Babel: LinkedIn Groups as a Source of Information on Contract Drafting

Three LinkedIn groups feature discussions related to contract drafting. “Contract & Commercial Management” caters primarily to contract-management professionals; you have to ask to join. I …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Odds and Ends | 1 Comment

Another Reaction to the Third Edition of MSCD

In this post on China Law Blog, Dan Harris expresses his opinion about the third edition of MSCD. An enthusiastic thumbs-up from someone like Dan? …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

From Lawyer to Contract-Management Professional: A One-Way Trip?

In this 2009 post I wrote about the respective roles of lawyers and contract-management personnel in the contract process. That’s what led a reader to send …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Process | 4 Comments

Making Changes to the Other Side’s Legalese-Filled Draft

I received the following question from a reader: When working with a contract that (1) comes from the other side, (2) is not game for …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Process | 2 Comments

Redraft This Sentence, MSCD Style: My Version of an “Irreparable Harm” Provision

In this recent post I invited readers to redraft a sentence that I had plucked, at random, from EDGAR. And you responded enthusiastically. (I’ve shelved …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Provisions | 9 Comments

Do I Ignore What Courts Might Say? What the Other Side Might Say?

In case it’s of interest, below is my response to feedback I received from someone who attended one of my recent international seminars. The first …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Seminars | 2 Comments

The Moral of a Recent Second Circuit Opinion: Don’t Rely on Commas for Disambiguation

Via this post by Ray Ward I learned of the recent opinion of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in AIG v. Bank of America …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Ambiguity | 8 Comments

“Thing”

The other day @bradykrissesq posed the following question on Twitter: What is the legal significance of a contract requirement to “do all things”? — Brady …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 7 Comments

The Contracts Guy Reviews the Third Edition of MSCD

Brian Rogers, also known as @theContractsGuy, has reviewed the third edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. Go here to read it. I’m …

Continue Reading »

Posted in MSCD | 3 Comments

Examining a Recommended Governing-Law Provision

An article in Corporate Counsel by a BigLaw partner and associate (copy here) considers governing-law provisions. It suggests that using the following provision would increase …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Provisions | 16 Comments

How to Fix Your Templates: A Heart-to-Heart Conversation

Oh, hi! It’s you! Do come in. Please take a seat. Would you like some tea? Water? No? OK. Thank you for coming. I’d like …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Process | Leave a comment

Redraft This Sentence, MSCD Style

This morning I encountered the following sentence on EDGAR: Therefore, the obligations of the Sellers under this Agreement, including, without limitation, the Sellers’ obligation to …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Odds and Ends | 10 Comments

You Can’t Focus on Just “Important” Stuff

Seminar customers will sometimes ask me, in effect, to focus on the important stuff. I respond that it wouldn’t make sense to have me do …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Seminars | Leave a comment

Encouraging Outside Counsel to Improve Their Contract Drafting

You’re an in-house lawyer who consults A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. In fact, it’s widely used in your department—your company does its best to …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Process | 4 Comments

“Ready, Willing, and Able”

The earnest cliché ready, willing, and able occurred in 102 contracts filed on the SEC’s EDGAR system in the past year. That’s not a whole lot, …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 2 Comments

A Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court Might Want to Consider the Rhetorical Function of “Best”

Last month the Minnesota Supreme Court issued its opinion in In re Petition of S.G., 828 N.W.2d 118 (Minn. 2013) (PDF copy here). This opinion …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | Leave a comment

Advice to a Non-Native English Speaker (Including Links to My Analysis of Different Boilerplate Provisions)

Here’s the text of an email I just sent someone who attended one of my recent European seminars: I’m pleased that you found the seminar …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Teaching | Leave a comment

Save the Date: New 2013 Canada “Drafting Clearer Contracts” Seminars

I’ve scheduled two new Canada “Drafting Clearer Contracts” public seminars for Osgoode Professional Development: Calgary, October 24, 2013 Toronto, November 6, 2013 I’ll put additional …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Seminars | Leave a comment

Severability and Tabulation

At one of my recent European seminars I told the participants that I’m not in favor of the approach to document design that says that …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Layout, Selected Provisions | 2 Comments

Fundraiser for Phillips Academy Andover: Auction of One Lot of Ten Copies of “A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting”

[Updated May 2, 2013: Well, my readership has proved immune to the attractions of half off ten copies of MSCD. Tough crowd! Anyway, thank you …

Continue Reading »

Posted in MSCD | 2 Comments

My New Offering: A One-Hour Presentation

I’ve updated this site’s page on my in-house seminars to note that I’m now offering a one-hour presentation entitled “The Bad (and Good) News About Contract …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Seminars | Leave a comment

Footnotes in Contracts?

A few days ago a reader asked me about a recommendation he saw online to the effect that it might be a good idea to …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Layout | 17 Comments

Reputation Matters

In modern discourse, it’s increasingly important not just to be right, but to be seen to be right. There’s no shortage of people offering, online, …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Odds and Ends | Leave a comment

Lame Word of the Day: “Utmost”

Utmost? WTF! Here are some examples of use of utmost in contracts on EDGAR: … provided that the party so affected shall use its best …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 8 Comments

“Because”

I noted with interest Neal Goldfarb’s recent post on LAWnLinguistics about an amicus brief that he filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. His brief concerns …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 1 Comment

Notes from the Road: Hamburg

I’ve just left Hamburg after a three-day visit. Some thoughts: I held public seminars on Monday and Tuesday at the offices of ECE Projektmanagement, the …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Notes from the Road | 4 Comments

Issue Spotting an Aspect of Jane Doe’s Employment Agreement

You’ve been asked by Acme to draft an employment  agreement for Jane Doe, Acme’s new head of sales. As part of his muttered instructions to …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Issue Spotting | Leave a comment

“Confirms”

You see confirms used to introduce statements of fact in a contract. Here are two examples from EDGAR: Each Loan Party (i) confirms that prior …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Categories of Contract Language | 1 Comment

Exemplify, A Research Tool for Determining What Is Market

I was recently reminded of Exemplify, “a new breed of research tool for determining market standard language and terms in transactional law practice.” The best …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Technology | Leave a comment

When You Write a Reference Work, You Don’t Want to Screw Up

I recently saw the following in a book: The words “exclusion” and “disclaimer” are sometimes used interchangeably in warranty provisions, but an important legal distinction …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Odds and Ends | Leave a comment

Revisiting “To the Extent That”

MSCD 17.16 deals with the phrase to the extent that. It makes the simple point that although to the extent that is appropriate when the …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 6 Comments

Should You Pander to Confused Judges?

In yesterday’s post I wrote about how the Appellate Court of Illinois saw value in useless contract language, namely the traditional recital of consideration and “successors …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Odds and Ends | 6 Comments

The Illinois Appellate Court’s Problematic Take on the Traditional Recital of Consideration and “Successors and Assigns” Provisions

The fog generated by traditional contract language is thick enough that I find myself periodically revisiting issues that I’ve tackled previously. In that vein, I’d …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Front of the Contract, Selected Provisions | 4 Comments

Courts Are Citing MSCD

Last week I mentioned in this post that the Delaware Supreme Court had cited A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. Well, yesterday I noticed …

Continue Reading »

Posted in MSCD | 2 Comments

Using “X” and “Y” to Refer to the Parties

Note use of the defined terms “X” and “Y” in the following, from the 2002 ISDA master agreement (discussed in this post): If a party …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Defined Terms | 4 Comments

The 2002 ISDA Master Agreement Isn’t a Contract-Drafting Masterpiece

Recently someone reminded me of the ISDA master agreement, the widely used form of master contract for over-the-counter derivatives transactions. It was last updated in …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Bad Drafting | 12 Comments

The Delaware Supreme Court Tackles Industrial-Strength Syntactic Ambiguity

Regular readers will recall that syntactic ambiguity arises from uncertainty over what part of a sentence a given phrase modifies, or what part of a …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Ambiguity | Leave a comment

“Suffer”

In contracts, use of the word suffer comes in two flavors, silly and annoying. Silly First, silly—the intransitive use of suffer. When use to mean …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 14 Comments

My Discussion With the Chicago Style Q&A Regarding Capitalization of Words Denoting Political Divisions

The Chicago Manual of Style is an essential resource. It’s useful even for contract drafters (see this 2012 post). But I’ve long had a quibble …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Drafting as Writing | 10 Comments

“Applicable Law” Refers to the Law at What Date?

Thanks to Jeff Ammon of the Michigan law firm Miller Johnson, I learned of the Sixth Circuit’s recent opinion in Kia Motors America, Inc. v. …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Selected Usages | 3 Comments

Here’s the First Review of the Third Edition of MSCD

Go here for Mark Anderson’s review of the third edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. For regular readers of this blog and …

Continue Reading »

Posted in MSCD | Leave a comment

“However So Described” and a Different Way to Handle Redundancy

At last week’s seminar in Sydney, one of the participants asked me about the phrase however so described. I told her that I’d look into …

Continue Reading »

Posted in Drafting as Writing, Selected Usages | 5 Comments