With support from LegalSifter, I’ve recorded three short videos about the Salesforce master subscription agreement. Today we launch the first one, which introduces you to the MSA—what it covers, what it doesn’t cover. My co-presenter is Nada Alnajafi, the impresario behind Contract Nerds. She’s a fresh voice in contracts, and I appreciate her enthusiasm. And […]
LinkedIn Isn’t the Marketplace of Ideas
I’m a relative latecomer to LinkedIn; I started posting regularly only a couple of years ago. I’ve struggled with LinkedIn, but I think I now understand, finally, what’s expected of me. Much of the conversation on LinkedIn is of a personal nature, involving people’s own experiences, plans, and hopes. But because LinkedIn is designed to […]
We Submitted Comments on the New Standard Contractual Clauses
The European Commission recently published for comment a new draft of the “Standard Contractual Clauses.” Yesterday Martin Clausen, Alex Hamilton, and I jointly filed comments, primarily our version of a portion of the SCCs, just to give the EU a sense of how the SCCs could be made clearer. (The comment period ends today.) Our […]
Louise Kulbicki Interviews Me (And Learns How I Came to Do What I Do)
Recently I was interviewed by Louise Kulbicki for her Study Legal English podcast. That episode is now out. You can click on it at the bottom of this post, and it’s also available through her site, here. (It’s Louise’s 99th episode of her podcast. By my standards, that’s a lot of episodes!) The interview clocks […]
Martin Clausen on Oracle’s Software License and Services Agreement
I’m the how-to-say-it-clearly guy, and I’m pleased with my lot. But it follows that except with respect to basic commercial provisions, I don’t tackle what you should say in a contract. That’s why I take my hat off to Law Insider for this installment in what appears to be a podcast series called The Contract […]
Sometimes “Nonlawyer” Is the Only Word That Works
Before doing today’s post on nonlawyers helping with contract drafting (here), I was aware of grumbling about the word nonlawyer. I’m entirely willing to revisit the implications of words I use. For example, after being gently admonished a few years ago, I’ve learned not to use guys in addressing groups with a mix of men […]
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 […]
Seeking Video Testimonials
Plenty of you appreciate what I do. I know that because I hear from you. And plenty of you have given me written testimonials; for example, go here, here, here, and here. But I’d like to help foster more of a sense of community—yes, a community of contract-language nerds, but still a community—by having you share your impressions in […]
Another Conversation with Mark Anderson
Ken: I’m here with Mark Anderson, an English lawyer who specializes in IP transactions. He’s also a blogger and the co-author or editor of too many books related to contracts. I’ve mentioned him plenty on my blog, and we’ve done some interesting stuff together—just search for his name on my blog. Mark: I see you […]
Let’s Look at Elizabeth Warren’s Proposed Release Language
[Updated 1:40 a.m. 21 February 2020 to expand the analysis to address additional text in the screenshot Warren tweeted.] On 19 February, the Nation published this article by Ken Klippenstein about the Bloomberg campaign’s confidentiality agreement. The article contained this link to a copy of the confidentiality agreement. All I have to say about it […]