Blog

The Sprawl: Complexifying Contracts Through Negotiation

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This image is from a public-company merger agreement. I highlighted those components that complexify contracts. Different levels of enumerated clauses. Cross-references. Parentheticals. Exceptions. Conditions. I think “the sprawl” is a suitable term for this sort of contracts complexification. (I’m not suggesting that this example is anything exceptional.) Sprawl connotes unplanned, incremental, and undistinguished growth. “Complexification” is a neutral term—complexity doesn’t … Read More

Becoming Better Acquainted with Antecedent Ambiguity

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Antecedent ambiguity is a distinct kind of ambiguity. As MSCD says, “Confusion can arise if it’s not clear what the antecedent is of a given element.” MSCD offers as an example of antecedent ambiguity John read Bill’s email, and he is furious. The antecedent of he could be either John or Bill. Today I found another instances of antecedent ambiguity. … Read More

Revisiting Offsetting Commas in Right Node Raising

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In this recent blog post, I emphasize the importance of offsetting commas in right node raising. (“Right node raising” is a linguistics term used to describe a sentence in which two or more coordinated clauses each end with a shared constituent, as in Himari likes, and Jorge dislikes, blueberry pie.) But offsetting commas in right node raising can lead to … Read More

Syntactic Ambiguity in Integrated Definitions

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I expect that regular readers of this blog are familiar with syntactic ambiguity. An example: cats and dogs with brown fur. Does that refer to all cats, or just those with brown fur? It can’t hurt to repeat my new, improved definition of syntactic ambiguity, which I first trotted out in a post last month and have just now tweaked … Read More

Claude Invokes the Fallacy of “Tested” Contract Language!

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I sent a contact my first draft of an article about—what else!—dysfunctional mainstream contract language. In the modern way, my contact fed my draft to Claude, to see what Claude thought of it. They then forwarded to me what Claude had to say. One thing stuck out: Litigated language has known meaning; novel clearer language trades interpretive certainty for readability, … Read More

Building a Center for Textual Interpretation

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This week, The Volokh Conspiracy blog published my latest article, Comma Mischief from the Florida District Court of Appeal. The closing section explains that many judges are bad at textual interpretation. It ends with a rallying cry—the only fix would be to offer training to judges and their clerks, ideally from a center at a law school. The only way … Read More

Feedback from a User of an Adams Contract Highly Customizable Template: Katie Butler of Torch Law

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In this blog post, I describe how Adams Contracts is in limbo. But some people are using Adams Contracts’ highly customizable templates! One of them is Katie Butler, managing attorney at Torch Law, a law firm based in Arkansas that offers “comprehensive legal support for data and technology” to clients in Arkansas and beyond. (That’s Katie in the accompanying photo.) … Read More

Highly Customizable Templates: Moving from Limbo

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Where do things stand with my grand project to remake contract drafting? It’s in limbo. Thanks to A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting and the training I offer, there’s now a path to becoming an informed consumer of contract language. But that’s not enough: systemic dysfunction requires systemic change. Using highly customizable templates is the best option for systemic … Read More

The Volokh Conspiracy Publishes My New Article About a Comma

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Thanks to a tip from Glenn West, I heard of the decision of the Florida District Court of Appeal in Treasure Coast Classical Academy, Inc. v. Optima Foundation, Inc., No. 4D2025-1577, 2026 WL 2104076 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. July 22, 2026). Today, The Volokh Conspiracy published my article about it, Comma Mischief from the Florida District Court of Appeal. Because The … Read More

A New Kind of Syntactic Ambiguity

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Friends, today is a special day, as I’m able to introduce to you a new kind of syntactic ambiguity. (A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting says, “Syntactic ambiguity arises principally out of the order in which words and phrases appear and how they relate to each other grammatically.” But here’s my updated version: “Syntactic ambiguity arises when you have … Read More

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