Category Archives: Drafting as Writing

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

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Ken Adams

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 …

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Posted in Drafting as Writing | 10 Comments

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

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Ken Adams

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 …

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Posted in Drafting as Writing, Selected Usages | 5 Comments

A Case Study in Eliminating a String of Nouns from a Contract

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Ken Adams

Consider the following (emphasis added): This agreement is personal to the Employee. The Employee shall not assign any of the Employee’s rights or delegate any …

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Posted in Drafting as Writing | 8 Comments

Is “The Chicago Manual of Style” Relevant to Contract Drafters?

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Ken Adams

I was surprised to have my publisher point out to me that although in the manuscript for the third edition of MSCD I had cited …

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Posted in Drafting as Writing | 1 Comment

Court Describes Contract Language as “Gibberish”

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Ken Adams

The reader who goes by the name A. Wright Burke, M. Phil., told me about this article by Edmund H. Mahoney in the Hartford Courant. It …

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Posted in Drafting as Writing | 1 Comment

Goodbye, “Magic Words”

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Ken Adams

Some readers may have noticed that in this post discussing problematic terms of art I don’t use the phrase “magic words.” I’ve long used “magic …

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Posted in Drafting as Writing | 5 Comments

The Different Kinds of Problematic Terms of Art Used in Contracts

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Ken Adams

[This post replaces this previous post, which I deleted, except for the comments. Very occasionally I write something, post it, and then promptly realize that …

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Posted in Drafting as Writing | 5 Comments