I recently learned of a Wisconsin appellate case, Appleton Papers, Inc. v. Andritz, Inc., 2011 WL 867754 (Wis. Ct. App.) It provides an interesting example of the confusion that can follow if you misdiagnose the sources of uncertainty in contract language. The defendant, Andritz, had granted the plaintiff an option to purchase equipment, then had refused to sell at the … Read More
Mark Anderson is an English solicitor specializing in IP law. He’s founder of Anderson & Company (go here for his bio on his firm’s website). He’s also a prolific writer on contract drafting—he makes me look like a piker! I have a stack of four of his books that I’ll be perusing in the coming weeks; you can expect something … Read More
I’m pleased to announce that West LegalEdcenter has now made available the webcast “The Structure of M&A Contracts.” Click here to go to the page for the webcast at West LegalEdcenter’s website. The webcast constitutes an introduction to, and overview of the subjects discussed in, my book entitled—wait for it—The Structure of M&A Contracts. (Click here for more information about … Read More
Via the ContractsProf Blog, I learned of this item in the Philadelphia Inquirer about recent developments in a case brought against defense contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root, Inc. (KBR). It was brought by the parents of staff sergeant Ryan Maseth, who died after being electrocuted in a shower at a U.S. military base in Iraq for which KBR had contracted … Read More
Even with all my Koncision activities, the seminar show must go on. Last week I was in Tampa for the first time, doing my “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar for West LegalEdcenter. I was pleased to have a significant BigLaw contingent present, as I’ve previously noted (including in this November 2009 post on AdamsDrafting) that law firms have been underrepresented at … Read More
If you were to try to perform yourself all the analysis and research required to do your work, you’d likely run out of time before you had really gotten started—to some extent, you build on what others have done. That’s clearly the case when it comes to contract drafting. More than any other kind of legal writing, it’s precedent driven: … Read More
Our confidentiality-agreement template is just our first product. Next will be a version for the international market. After that, we may produce a “boilerplate” template containing all the stuff you find at the back of most contracts. It might even include—gasp!—indemnification provisions. But beyond that, we plan on producing templates of different kinds of contracts. For that, we’ll need access … Read More
I’ve spent most of the past three months creating Koncision’s confidentiality-agreement template. It has been quite an experience. I started with zero knowledge of ContractExpress. I’ve long been a booster of ContractExpress, but my understanding was rather, um, theoretical. So Koncision was based on a gamble that I’d be able to figure out how to use ContractExpress. That turned out … Read More
Today and tomorrow I’ll be in Chicago at the ABA TechShow. You can find me at Business Integrity’s booth (number 317). It will be a novel experience—instead of being a ContractExpress groupie, I’ll be pitching my own wares. If your at the ABA TechShow and you’d like to find out more about Koncision, I hope you’ll stop by or email … Read More
Koncision has just launched its first product, a confidentiality-agreement template for the U.S. market. I invite you to take a look around Koncision’s website, as much new material has been added for the launch—too much for me to begin to summarize it in this post. For example, check out the “Frequently Asked Questions” [link no longer available], or the video … Read More
