Month: September 2014

What BigLaw Partners Mean When They Say They’re Not Interested in Automated Contract Creation

A good number of law firms are ContractExpress customers. Goodwin Procter. Latham & Watkins. Perkins Coie. Wilson Sonsini. And so on. But recently I’ve spoken with a few BigLaw partners who have said that they don’t currently use contract automation and have no plans to do so. This post is on Contract-Automation Clearinghouse. To see the rest, go here. Contract-Automation Clearinghouse … Read More

Reminder: Affiliates as of When?

[Updated October 24, 2014: The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling. (Go here for a PDF copy of the opinion; thank you to Steven Sholk for sending me a copy.) Here’s most of what the court had to say on this issue (citations omitted): Absent explicit language demonstrating the parties’ intent to bind future affiliates of the contracting … Read More

Contract-Drafting Writer’s Block?

This summer I had the following exchange on Twitter with @DevonMSmiley: Having a spot of contract drafting writer's block…anyone have tips for how to break through it? — Devon Smiley (@DevonMSmiley) July 10, 2014 @KonciseD For me, it's having concepts and key words, but nothing is gelling into real language. But I do love the challenge! — Devon Smiley (@DevonMSmiley) … Read More

Toronto Only, on December 4: “An Intensive Program in the Categories of Contract Language”

On December 3, I’m giving a public “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar in Toronto with my longtime partner, Osgoode Professional Development. For more information, go here. But I’m particularly interested in what comes after that: On December 4, I’m doing for the first time a new seminar entitled—excuse me while I catch my breath—”Advanced ‘Drafting Clearer Contracts’: An Intensive Program in … Read More

Putting the Defined-Term Parenthetical at the Beginning of an Integrated Definition?

I spotted an oddity in section 1(a) of the contract providing for Jeff Bezos’s purchase of the Washington Post. Observe where the defined-term parenthetical is positioned (italics added): To the extent not already owned by the Post Subsidiaries, the Transactions shall include the transfer to the Purchaser or the Post Subsidiaries of any other assets primarily related to the Post Business (other than … Read More

A Copy-and-Paste Train Wreck

A tidbit to come out this week’s panel discussion at Notre Dame Law School (see this post) was, courtesy of Glenn West, a citation to a poignant Florida case, Espresso Disposition Corp. 1 v. Santana Sales & Mktg. Grp., Inc., 105 So. 3d 592 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2013) (PDF here). This post is on Contract-Automation Clearinghouse. To see the … Read More

Bringing Outside Lawyers into the Law School

I made it a point to have outside lawyers play a part in my course at Notre Dame Law School. I don’t know from pedagogy, so not a lot of forethought went into that decision. I simply figured that I should try to give my students a glimpse of the role of contract drafting in the larger world, rather than just the … Read More

Contract Drafting: Art or Science? (I Thought of It First!)

This post by Mark Anderson last week used the title I had planned on using for a post of my own. Rather than launch a denial-of-service attack on IP Draughts, or send the boys round to see Mark, I decided to embrace the coincidence. Read our respective posts for deep insight into our creative processes. Or not. Next up, Mark … Read More