You’re drafting a contract, as you’re in the habit of doing. You include a waiver of jury trial, for whatever reason. And you make California law the governing law. Or maybe Georgia law. Well, for purposes of trials in state court, courts in California and Georgia have held that pre-litigation waivers of jury trial are […]
Should You Include a Duck in Your Draft Contract?
Over dinner recently, a transactional lawyer told me he makes a point of including a duck in each draft he sends to the other side. But he didn’t actually use the word “duck.” That’s my word, thanks to the great Alex Hamilton, who pointed me to this post on the Coding Horror blog, which includes […]
Use and Abuse of “Not Less Than” and Its Variants in References to Time
ContractsProf Blog has an interesting post by Stacey Lantagne (aka @StaceyLantagne) about a court case involving the phrase for a period of not less than X years. Here’s Stacey: The dispute concerned a noncompete between a dance studio and Marik, one of its employees. The covenant not to compete stated that Marik wouldn’t engage in […]
The Texas Supreme Court Doesn’t Like Cryptic Contracts
Thanks to Glenn West, I learned about the recent opinion of the Texas Supreme Court in Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP v. Texas Crude Energy, LLC (PDF here). The fight was over a technical oil-and-gas issue that’s way above my pay grade. Both parties claimed the language was unambiguous and each offered a […]
London “Drafting Clearer Contracts” Seminar on 4 November 2019
I’m pleased that on Monday, 4 November 2019, I’ll once more be doing a “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar in London, hosted by UCL Faculty of Laws. For more information, go here. And go here for feedback from participants at the 2014 seminar. While I’m at it, here’s a grab-bag of stuff with an English nexus: Go […]
Contract Review, Meet Contract Drafting
After almost a year working on the factory floor at LegalSifter, it has become clear to me that contract review and contract drafting are closely allied functions. … This post is on LegalSifter’s blog. To read the rest of it, go here.
Of “Hereof and Thereof”: The Third Circuit Makes Stuff Up
Via Dave Hoffman (aka @HoffProf) I learned of this post by Matthew Stiegler (aka @CA3blog). It involves and and or, so you know it’s headache-inducing. I won’t attempt to set the scene. Instead, let’s cut to the chase. Matthew’s post involves the Third Circuit’s recent decision in Sköld v. Galderma Labs. Here’s the court quoting the […]
An Update on LegalSifter
Last April I told you in this post that I had become an advisor to LegalSifter, the company that’s developing software to help you review the other side’s draft contracts. What do I have to announce now? Well, nothing in particular. I’m simply continuing to do my part. In addition to doing consulting work, and roaming around giving […]
“City of Contracts” Podcast with Sarah Carlin of Hire Counsel
Go here for my podcast with Sarah Carlin, Director of Recruiting at Hire Counsel, a national leader in legal staffing. Like the blurb says: Ken and Sarah discuss how Hire Counsel helps companies with their contracts process, and what the work of a contract manager consists of on a daily basis. They discuss the backgrounds […]
“Abstain From”: Another Effed-Up Verb Structure
Generally it’s a bad sign when one talks about dreams, but bear with me. This morning I woke with a start. In my sleep I had been running through verbs in my mind. When it was the turn of abstain, what’s when my eyes popped open. Of course! Why hadn’t I thought of abstain before! […]
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