Month: February 2012

Don’t Forget About Corporate Resolutions!

I was pleased to receive a couple of weeks ago an email from Jim Schmitt, chapter relations manager of the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Here’s the relevant part of Jim’s email: Thank you so much for the outstanding article, “Legal Usage in Drafting Corporate Resolutions.” I manage chapter relations for the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the article was very … Read More

Notes from the Road: Whirlwind Visits to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok

My week in Australia was leisurely compared with the week that followed: fly to Kuala Lumpur; a seminar the next two days; fly to Bangkok the next day; a seminar the next two days; fly home (tomorrow). The focus of my time in both cities was obviously the seminars, two-day versions of my “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar. Henceforth, my one-day … Read More

Revisiting the Layout of Australian Contracts

In this December 2011 post I considered document-design “bling” in Australian contracts. I’d now like to consider another issue relating to the look of Australian contracts: use of tabulated enumerated clauses. Consider the screenshot to the right (click on it to see it full-size). I think it’s a compact but otherwise representative example of how Australian drafters like to break … Read More

“The Structure of M&A Contracts” Now Available As eBook

It’s taken a year, but my book The Structure of M&A Contracts is now available as an ebook. More specifically, it’s available on Thomson Reuters’s new ebook platform, ProView, by going here. The book is just over a hundred pages long and costs $39. For now, there are no volume discounts. Let me know what you think of ProView. By … Read More

Notes from the Road: My Day in Sydney

The “Notes from the Road” heading means no pointy-headed contracts stuff in this post, just a virtual postcard from Sydney. I arrived here this morning from Melbourne with Andrew Godwin—you’ll remember him from this post. After checking how things were going on the home front, I headed to lunch with Adrian Goss. Adrian is corporate counsel at ACP Magazines and … Read More

Notes from the Road: Q&A with Andrew Godwin of Melbourne Law School

That I’m in Australia is due to Andrew Godwin, senior lecturer at Melbourne Law School. Andrew first contacted me in 2004, and thereafter we exchanged emails once in a while.  When I told him about my upcoming trip to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, he thought the stars were in alignment for a detour to Australia beforehand. Andrew has had an … Read More

“Need Not”

[Updated 13 September 2016] I recently picked up a useful tip from an unlikely source—one of my own webcasts. Osgoode Professional Development has been running my “Drafting Clearer Contracts” webcasts for a Canadian audience, and I’ve been on hand at the end of each webcast to answer any questions. I joined a bit early the webcast on categories of contract … Read More

Notes from the Road: I Embark for Australia

Yes sir, I’m a denizen of cyberspace! You can find me in my home office, endlessly hunched, gargoyle-like, over my laptop. My wardrobe varies from casual to too casual to indecent. My face can go for an extended period without encountering a razor. Some days, my exposure to the outside world is limited to very leisurely walks with Max, the … Read More

Ridacto, A New Contract-Analysis Tool: Q&A with Founder and CEO Max Mednik

People who work with contracts have available to them an increasing number of information-technology tools that seek to improve your contracts or speed the contract process, or both. I recently became aware of a new entrant, Ridacto. To find out more, I had a conversation with Max Mednik, Ridacto’s founder and CEO; you’ll find it below. *** Ken: What’s your … Read More

Westlaw Drafting Assistant?

I confess that while I was at LegalTech I did only a minimal amount of prospecting at other booths, so I didn’t get to speak with anyone about “Westlaw Drafting Assistant – Transactional.” (Including an en-dash, with spaces, in your brand? That takes some gumption.) It’s described in this item as being “the first comprehensive set of automated tools and … Read More