My email in-box is overflowing with emails from Lexis notifying me of cases ostensibly relating to ambiguity. I fished from the torrent the following straightforward example of syntactic ambiguity. (Syntactic ambiguity arises out of the order in which words appear and how they relate to each other.) It’s from Active Zones of America, LLC v. SDV (USA) Inc., 2007 U.S. … Read More
I’ve intermittently pondered what to call the contracts one copies, in whole or in part, when drafting a new contract. Contracts Prepared for Use in Future Transactions First, consider those contracts that are prepared for use in future transactions and so contain blanks, placeholders, and perhaps suitable annotations. What should they be called? Did you say “forms”? I’m not keen … Read More
The Globe and Mail (the Canadian newspaper) has published my op-ed piece “>Behind the Scense of the Comma Dispute.” I hope you enjoy it!
Once more, I doff my cap to a reader of this blog. Steve Pappas—a Penn Law classmate—suggested to me that the construction on the one hand … on the other hand is often misused. It had never crossed my mind to investigate this usage. I’ve now done so, and I agree with Steve. The construction on the one hand … … Read More
I recently encountered this article about drafting a mediation settlement agreement. The fact that it was published by the Section of Litigation of the ABA reminded me that many litigators apparently dabble in contract drafting in order to draft settlement agreements. I find that a slightly scary notion, as the technical nature of contract drafting wouldn’t seem conducive to dabbling. … Read More
Today the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission released a decision in the famous “comma case.” Click here for a copy of the decision. (You may recall that I acted as expert for Rogers Communications Inc. in this dispute; click here for my most recent post on this dispute.) This time the Commission sided with Rogers. This decision means that the … Read More
I’ve belatedly added a couple of features to this blog. If you wish to inform someone of a post, as an alternative to emailing them a link you can now click on the “Email this Post” link at the end of the post, fill in the blanks, and click “Mail It!” And you can generate a printer-friendly version of any … Read More
Today’s issue of the New York Law Journal contains my article Revisiting Materiality. Click here for a pdf reprint; it’s also available on the GC New York website (free registration required). This article discusses how the word material—that favorite of deal lawyers—is ambiguous, and it suggests ways of addressing this problem. This is a topic that I’ve previously danced around, … Read More
I had originally had in mind some sort of journalistic report on my “How to Write Better Business Documents” panel discussion and other goings-on at the ABA’s 2007 annual meeting in San Francisco. But I’ve recovered my sanity and concluded that any such account would be infernally dull and indiscreet—an unpromising combination. So I’ll limit myself to the following: I … Read More
A reader alerted me to this post on Above the Law. It’s about a letter that a Big Law corporate associate sent to his firm explaining exactly why he was pleased to be leaving the profession. Here’s the pertinent bit: I do not enjoy the practice of law. At all. I find it extremely tedious and stressful. I particularly do … Read More
