Since 2013, I’ve had only one web designer—Selene Bowlby of iDesign Studios. Working with her has been gratifyingly straightforward: I tell her what I want and she builds it, using her technical and design skills to give specific form to my very general wishes. I’ve always been pleased with the results. And in between sporadic rebuilds, she looks after things. … Read More
The engine driving my rebranding (described in this blog post) was my new logo, by my new graphic designer, Gothard. Yes, that’s it, above. (I also have four Drafting Clearer Contracts variants.) I think it’s great. I got it through a contest I ran using 99designs. I chose to do a “Platinum” contest, the most expensive level—I had one shot, … Read More
Take a look around—I’ve rebranded! “Rebranding” sounds vacuously corporate, but what the heck—I’m going with it. I’ve overhauled my look enough that the sum is modestly greater than the parts, so “rebranding” it is. These posts describe the elements: Rebranding: New Logo Rebranding: New Website Rebranding: Digital Credentials Rebranding: New PowerPoint I like to think that because the design face … Read More
Thanks to a tip from @NY_Contracts, here’s yet another story of a court failing at textual interpretation. The opinion in question is Dan’s Hauling & Demo, Inc. v. GMMM Hickling, LLC, No. 1068, 2021 WL 1711512 (N.Y. App. Div. 30 Apr. 2021) (PDF here). It’s from the Fourth Department of the Appellate Division, New York State’s intermediate appellate court. The plaintiff … Read More
In NB Alternatives Advisers LLC v. VAT Master Corp. (Del. Ch. 22 Apr. 2021) (PDF here), the defendants wanted to litigate a matter in Wisconsin; the plaintiffs sought a permanent injunction. On an expedited basis, the Delaware Court of Chancery granted the injunction. Hall-of-fame tipster Glenn West then told me about it, so on an expedited basis, here we go. … Read More
The value offered by contract review enhanced by artificial intelligence is simple enough: reviewing contracts is challenging, so there’s a benefit to having someone look over your shoulder and offer advice, if you want it. But to really appreciate what it offers, you have to understand the stuff you can expect to review. It’s not pretty. The rest of this … Read More
One of the fringe benefits of my being LegalSifter‘s chief content officer—besides health insurance and all—is that I get exposed to a far broader range of contract language than would otherwise be the case. So today, I discovered that some drafters use is as a definition verb. I saw it first in a sample provision included in advice built into … Read More
Check out the provision above. It was put on Twitter by Aiden Durham, who said, “There’s gotta be a better way?!” Filthy McNasty tagged me in the ensuing thread, so here we are. The extract above is from an Arizona contract. Arizona has a “strict blue pencil” approach to enforcing post-employment restrictions on employees (generally known as “restrictive covenants”), which … Read More
When we speak with potential clients, some remark to us, with a sage nod, that, well, LegalSifter doesn’t mark up the draft being reviewed. To make sure we understand what they’re referring to, we looked into this. We quickly determined that what these companies are alluding to is something I’ve seen already. This post is on LegalSifter’s blog. To read … Read More
I’m overhauling my website, and today I was reminded that the page devoted to A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting has testimonials that were valuable 17 or 13 years ago but are no longer relevant. So I’d like to replace them. (Thank you again to those who submitted those testimonials; it’s time for a well-deserved rest.) I’d like to … Read More
