Yes, folks, I’m gently easing into the podcast world, thanks to logistical support from LegalSifter.
The first episode is available here. It consists of my conversation with Michael Woronoff of Proskauer. Check it out.
The podcast is called City of Contracts, a name that I hope conjures the many different constituencies involved in contracts. I think the first episode is a great start, but we’ll be working on the infrastructure, and on my schtick, in the coming months.
If you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them.
I thought Michael’s comments were really interesting. I was left feeling the way to make change is to “catch ’em young”, perhaps at law school, but possibly better in the early years of practice, when they have some work experiences to provide a context for this practice-led subject (which, with a different subject-matter, seems to work on my 5-day course on IP transactions at UCL). I also wondered how we had arrived at a situation where (if I understood Michael correctly) a significant proportion of transactional lawyers have neither the skill set nor inclination to draft contracts well.
Michael’s comments also caused me to reflect on the differences between M&A practice in large firms and the world of IP transactions, where there is sometimes a more thoughtful approach to contract drafting.