Applying the MSCD Enumeration Scheme Using the Numbering Assistant Software
In 2006, Payne Consulting Group, the software training and development company, incorporated into its Numbering Assistant software the recommendations made in A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting regarding enumeration and layout of blocks of contract text. It did so by offering the two versions of the MSCD numbering scheme as built-in Numbering Assistant numbering schemes. This unique arrangement brought added rigor to what is one of the leading enumeration software products. It also made it much easier for readers of MSCD to adopt its recommendations regarding layout.
In September 2008, the Numbering Assistant was updated to reflect the new recommendations regarding layout contained in the second edition of MSCD, namely that one use the new Microsoft typeface Calibri instead of Times New Roman, Arial, or other alternatives and that for emphasis one use bold rather than underscoring. (See MSCD chapter 15; regarding the MSCD enumeration scheme generally, see chapter 3.)
For any organization looking for greater efficiency and consistency in its contract drafting, a good place to start would be to install the Numbering Assistant and require that all drafters use it to apply the MSCD schemes. If you’re unwilling to require consistent layout, whether it’s achieved through use of the Numbering Assistant or by some other method, it’s likely that you’re not ready to get serious about efficiency and consistency.
A perpetual license to the Numbering Assistant currently costs $78; students and faculty are entitled to a 10% discount. If you’d like a free 30-day trial, click here to send an email to Payne Consulting Group. If you’re a student or faculty member, please specify your school.
Ken Adams uses the Numbering Assistant because it greatly facilitates his drafting and makes it easy for his students and his clients to adopt the MSCD numbering scheme. He recommends it to others because he thinks that they, too, might find it beneficial. He wishes to avoid any suggestion of a profit motive on his part, so he has asked Payne Consulting Group to donate to their favorite charity any commissions to which he would normally be entitled on sale of the Numbering Assistant to visitors to this site or readers of MSCD.
For more information, see Payne Consulting Group’s 2006 press release. And click here for tips—updated in September 2008—on using the Numbering Assistant to apply MSCD‘s numbering schemes.
