Sporadically, I’m hired to help people in a fight over confusing contract language. That kind of work isn’t my bread and butter, but I should do a lot more of it.
Many courts are bad at making sense of confusing contract language. (For two of many examples, see this 2015 article and this 2020 blog post.) And so are many litigators. The antidote is to be found in A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting and my other writings. I’ve addressed a whole range of topics in greater detail, and more innovatively, than anyone else. The implications of verb structures. Ambiguity caused by and, or, all, any, each, every, and plural nouns. Syntactic ambiguity. Commas. Various hot-button words and phrases, such as efforts provisions and material. And so on.
I could help appeal bad court decisions, but it would be best to get me involved at the outset, so your pleadings can gently steer the court in the right direction. U.S. courts mistakenly think courts are equipped to sort out ambiguity—generally they don’t admit expert-witness testimony on ambiguity. So I operate behind the scenes, rather than as an expert witness.
Instead of retaining me you could just read my stuff. But it can get complicated; you might be better off hiring me.
