In today’s post about how nonlawyers can help with contract drafting (here), I advance an idea I don’t recall having seen expressed before. It hardly seems a revolutionary idea, but I thought it appropriate to hear what other had to say about it. So I reached out to a handful of my connections, some long-standing, […]
Nonlawyers Can Help With Contract Drafting (As Long as They’re the Right Nonlawyers)
Recently I tweeted this: Legal builds contracts because lawyers are good at claiming turf. Contracts are business documents: that they're legally enforceable and contain dispute resolution provisions isn't a reason to make them a legal fiefdom. Give them to people skilled in deals and contract language. — Ken Adams (@AdamsDrafting) August 16, 2020 I’ll now […]
My First Corporate Clients for “Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass”
If you’re an individual and you want to sign up for my new online course Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass, you go to the course home page, here. But if you’re a company, law firm, or government agency, you contact me directly. That’s what two companies did, and soon I’ll start a series of Masterclass for […]
Dual Verb Structures: “Agrees to X and Continue to X”
Late last year I did my first post on dual verb structures. I’ve done five of them, here, here, here, here, and here. Actually, make that six, because I now introduce to you the supremely effed up structure agrees to X and continue to X. I found only a few examples on EDGAR, but enough […]
Here’s How the “Has a Duty” Test Works
For 15 years I’ve been haranguing people about the has a duty test. I can be relied on to ask a given group, way too many times, What is the first diagnostic test? In my dreams, those in attendance respond in unison, boot-camp style: The has a duty test! Allow me to explain. The foundation […]
Business Law Today Cheers “A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting.” Really!
My peeps at the ABA Section of Business Law were in a mood to have me talk about MSCD: go here for an item in Business Law Today entitled BLS Book Celebrates 16 Years in Guiding Practitioners on Contract Drafting. I tried to make it more entertaining than it might have been.
Through the Looking Glass: A BigLaw Analysis of Indemnification Terminology
Last weekend I indulged myself with this post, in which I observed, without surprise, that I’m hardly ever challenged in the marketplace of ideas. Well, if traditionalists aren’t challenging me, what do they contribute to the marketplace of ideas? I don’t go looking for such stuff, so for this blog post I’m relying on a […]
Using Parentheses for Clarity
Generally, parentheses are of limited use in contracts. As MSCD says, “The limited and stylized prose of contracts isn’t the place for explanations and asides, so drafters should have no reason to use parentheses to serve that function.” But parentheses do serve a few specific functions. For example, MSCD says that “if you need to […]
Revisiting When an Hour Ends, Thanks to Kanye’s Political Campaign
I was tickled to note this article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel regarding Kanye West’s deranged political campaign. Here’s the relevant bit: West’s campaign is arguing he belongs on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin even if his campaign turned in his nomination signatures 14 seconds after the 5 p.m. deadline Aug. 4. The 23-page document, […]
The Deafening Silence: Why People Generally Don’t Take Me On in the Marketplace of Ideas
No one owes it to me to take me on. But after a certain point, the silence becomes deafening. This past week I did a blog post entitled Many Judges Are Bad at Textual Interpretation. What Do We Do About It? The first half consists of my critique of textual interpretation offered in a recent […]