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
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
[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
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
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 That can make the original post out of date, but that’s a blogging fact of life.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
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
I’m delighted that on 6 November 2017 I’ll be doing another “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar in London with UCL Faculty of Laws. Go here for more information. Note the significant student discount! And go here for feedback from participants at one of my previous seminars for UCL Faculty of Laws. I think it’s safe to say that among commentators on … Read More
I noticed this post by Richard Tromans on a new Wolters Kluwer product called M&A Clause Analytics. Here’s some of what Richard says: In terms of what the system actually does, Wolters Kluwer explains that it has the ability to compare an entire document or single clause against the market standard and then provides practical guidance about those clauses and … Read More
I came across this article in the Contracting Excellence Journal, published by the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM). It’s by Rob Waller, Helena Haapio, and Stefania Passera, and the title is Contracting Simplification: The Why and the How. I could hardly argue with the premise for the article. Traditional contract drafting doesn’t work? Check. Confusing contracts can lead … Read More
In this comment to a recent post, a reader outlined steps they’ve taken to make their contracts simpler and clearer. For purposes of this post, what’s of interest is that those steps include the following: … use “will” for our obligations and “shall” for the other party, … This is only the second time I’ve encountered the notion of using different verb … Read More
