In this post I consider how, with help, I’ve gone about improving the prose of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. It so happens that this week I had occasion to address a single fix among the many. In this post on LinkedIn, MSCD reader Steven Mirsky says he was baffled by the word allonge and was gratified to … Read More
If I had to describe myself as anything, it would be “writer.” Of course, not a fancy-pants kind of writer, if they still exist. Instead, I just write stuff. But in terms of the flair I bring to bear to my humdrum topic, I do think I’m something special. But once you’ve written enough, you know that however great you … Read More
There’s me, and there’s my writings. If you want to know what I think about something, you might want to start by consulting my writings, rather than asking me. I’ve been writing about this stuff for more than 20 years, and a lot of it is complicated, so I can only keep some of it in my mind at any … Read More
Perhaps the most distinctive part of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting is chapter 3, The Categories of Contract Language. It addresses how to use verb structures to establish, clearly and concisely, your intended meaning. To get a sense of what it involves, see the “quick reference” chart that’s part of the chapter; you can get to it through … Read More
Five years on, I can reveal that the cross-references in the fourth edition of MSCD aren’t as accurate as I’d like. There are a lot of them—my guesstimate is over 4,500. I didn’t have time to check them all myself, so I automated each cross-reference when I created it, did spot checks, and otherwise hoped for the best. Well, some … Read More
A casualty of the fourth edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting was what had been chapter 20 of the third edition, entitled “Drafting Corporate Resolutions.” I figured that the book had gotten big enough that that chapter, which doesn’t have anything to do with contracts, would be clutter. But that chapter is a good example of what … Read More
Learning involves relying on others. It’s not remotely feasible for everyone to, uh, do all their own research. Instead, you have to rely on others who really have done research and written it up in a way that makes it accessible. But who do you rely on? The overwhelming majority of commentary out there isn’t reliable, or it’s lightweight. For … Read More
Yesterday I learned of an opinion—hot off the presses—of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division One, by Judge Kelly C. Broniec. The case is Pelopidas, LLC v. Keller, No. ED 109395, 2021 WL 3501988 (Mo. Ct. App. 10 Aug. 2021) (PDF here). This opinion concerns Keller’s appeal of a lower court decision interpreting the following sentence from a … Read More
Today I was tagged in the following tweet: Think the objection is primarily an aesthetic one. Can't resist tagging @AdamsDrafting in on this. — Levins Solicitors (@LevinsLaw) July 23, 2021 I’m always happy to join in a discussion when someone asks my opinion. (Hi, @LevinsLaw!) But I was reminded how online, everything old—whether it’s and/or, or for the avoidance of … Read More
Yesterday Andrew Kinsey tagged me in this tweet: Just saw a job posting with these requirements. @AdamsDrafting has influence, I see. pic.twitter.com/RAeEBfvuyf — Andrew Kinsey (@KinseyAndrew) July 6, 2021 As I reported in this 2017 post, a reader told me how they had said in a job interview that they were a big fan of A Manual of Style for … Read More
