Blog

The Marketplace of Ideas Is Horsesh*t: Discuss

[Trigger warning: navel contemplation follows.] This morning I noticed the following two combative tweets, courtesy of @section_sign: https://twitter.com/section_sign/status/905408538738126848 Regular readers will know that I regularly invoke the marketplace of ideas. Well, is the marketplace of ideas in fact horseshit? I have nothing to say about that Tower of Babel, the broader marketplace. The marketplace in which I ply my wares—the … Read More

“When Contracts Seek to Preempt Judicial Discretion”: My New Article with Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery

The fall issue of the magazine Judicature contains my article with Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery, entitled When Contracts Seek to Preempt Judicial Discretion. Go here for a PDF copy. I leave it to others to judge the content, but I think this article gets high marks for originality in terms of the topic alone: I’ve … Read More

A Testimonial from a Different Sort of Consulting Client

Most of my consulting work is for big companies. Because of economies of scale, it’s worth their while for them to hire me. But occasionally I get a different sort of consulting client. A recent example was Jonathan Feigenbaum. He’s a sole practitioner, based in Boston. Heck, he’s not even a transactional guy—he handles benefit claims. It’s awkward to ask … Read More

Another Skirmish in the “Shall” Wars

Today a reader posted the following comment (found here): Ken, I have been pushing your rules about shall and must since I started drafting contracts. Recently, a colleague said that we should use must exclusively. He pointed to the following link to bolster his case: https://www.faa.gov/about/i… I wanted to point it out for your opinion. Thanks If you want to … Read More

The Latest from Glenn West

I feel it’s my civic duty to keep you posted of Glenn West’s latest offerings. There’s his post What Is the Deal with No-Oral-Modification/Waiver Clauses? And there’s his most recent post, Avoiding the Mindless Use of the Brainless MAC Clause. Here’s the gist of the latter: In negotiating carve-outs, bear in mind that not including a carve-out for a particular circumstance when … Read More

What Salutation Should You Use in a Letter Agreement Sent to a Company?

[Updated 4 August 2017, 9:45 a.m. EDT] Yikes! This is my second update to this post. (I inserted the first update below, in the original post.) In the past 24 hours I’ve considered this issue for the first time, proposed something new, then had readers drag me in another direction. I now happily bow to the logic of those who … Read More

What Should Tesla Look for in a Contracts Supervisor?

It was @SydneyAdams, of all people, who told me that Tesla is looking for a contracts supervisor for their delivery operations. (See the notice here.) No, she’s not thinking of applying. And no, she didn’t think it was time for her father to get a proper job. Instead, she just thought it a little odd that the job requirements didn’t … Read More

Revisiting Absence of Prohibition

A benefit of this blog is that I get to try out new ideas. Often enough, I end up revisiting those ideas. That can make the original post out of date, but that’s a blogging fact of life. (I’m not disciplined enough to always put a link in the original post.) Here’s an example for you. In this post from … Read More

On Honesty in Commentary

In recent posts, I’ve critiqued an article (here) and suggested limitations in a product (here). (I pulled a third critical post, one in which I reviewed a book.) Writing the first of those posts prompted me to publish this item on LinkedIn. I jokingly describe it as a public-service announcement. (It’s been read so far by around 3,600 people; I never … Read More