Recently someone pointed out a typo in the fifth edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. (More about that thrilling topic soon!) In an email to them, I joked about awarding them the “Crimson Lightning Bolt for Glitch-Finding Valor.” That got me wondering what such a medal might look like. Because I now have in my corner Moh … Read More
In this post I discuss the illustration above. It graces one of the T-shirts and one of the mugs on offer in my new A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting merchandise store (here). I set up my store as a light-hearted way to allow those who value MSCD to express that. But if anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing … Read More
Last week, a couple of dozen participants joined me in session 2 of a public series of my online course Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass. The topic was what I call “the categories of contract language”—my framework for how to determine what kind of meaning you wish to use in each sentence in a contract and what verb structure you use … Read More
Yesterday I launched an online store to sell A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting T-shirts and mugs. Why? For the heck of it. See this blog post for more. The items on sale feature, in addition to the cover of MSCD, the design in the image above, which was the winning entry in a contest I ran on 99designs. … Read More
Have you yearned for A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting merchandise? Well, your days of yearning are now over: go here to buy two kinds of MSCD T-shirt (both short-sleeve and long-sleeve) and two kinds of mug! Wait, that’s not quite as crass as it seems! First, I’ll donate all proceeds to a worthy cause, the Belmont Child Care … Read More
I’ve dabbled in governing-law provisions. Here are the relevant blog posts from my list of stuff I’ve written on boilerplate (here): Blog post, Including Federal Law in Governing-Law Provisions (4 June 2021) Blog post, Revisiting Governing-Law Provisions (1 Aug. 2019) Blog post, Simplifying Governing-Law Provisions, Part 3 (“Governs” and the Alternatives) (15 July 2015) Blog post, Simplifying Governing-Law Provisions, Part 2 (Renvoi!) (13 July 2015) Blog post, Simplifying Governing-Law … Read More
The photo above shows the spines of all five editions of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. It doesn’t bring to mind anything particularly profound—just two thoughts. First, when considered from day to day, what I do has been more fun than it has any right to be. But if you consider the totality of it, you realize that … Read More
Not only did the pandemic upend the speaking-engagement world, I also get the sense that things won’t be going back to the way they were. For example, one organization I’ve worked with has told me they’ve had limited demand for in-person programs, so most of their programs have remained online. That’s a drastic change from before the pandemic. Uncertainty over … Read More
So the fifth edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting has been unleashed. (Buy it here!) You own the fourth edition and are wondering whether you should fork over for MSCD5 US$139.95 plus any tax and shipping. If working with contracts is an important part of what you do and you’ve found MSCD4 valuable, I think you’d appreciate … Read More
This week I was noodling with some contract language, and I wrote the Company or any of its Members. That was a mistake—Member was defined to mean a member of the Company, not a member of any limited liability company. I should have said the Company or any Member. I was attuned to this because the day before I had … Read More
