I think of my core mission as helping you become an informed consumer of contract language.
By “an informed consumer of contract language,” I mean someone who knows how to say clearly and concisely in a contract whatever you want to say. As a practical matter, I suggest that means someone who’s familiar with my book A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, as it offers the only comprehensive set of guidelines for those faced with that task.
But the AI-and-contracts clamor has had me wondering whether helping people become informed consumers of contract language is at risk of becoming obsolete.
Well, it won’t, ever.
Contracts are dysfunctional, in terms of what they say and how they say it. Every draft, every signed contract, has the potential for unhappiness. Diagnosing the dysfunction requires that you be an informed consumer of contract language, in addition to understanding the kind of deal addressed in the contract.
And the dysfunction isn’t ever going away. AI can’t fix incoherence, only replicate it. The best we can hope for is silos of quality contract language.
And even if you find yourself working with contracts that somehow contain optimal language, it would still be to your advantage to be an informed consumer of contract language. Negotiating contracts requires moving beyond a given draft. So does writing contract riders. And so does discussing the merits of different deal strategies. Engage in any of those activities and you’d benefit from being able to look after yourself when it comes to contract language.
That’s why I’m sticking to my mission. Expanding it, even—that’s why I’ve launched Drafting Clearer Contracts: On Demand.
