Last night I watched the Netflix movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery with my daughter Sydney, who’s home for the holidays. (If you haven’t seen the movie, this reveals a piece of the puzzle, so you might want to stop reading.) We found the movie entertaining, but given that my life’s work consists of rooting around in the contracts … Read More
In calling this post The Myth of the Lone Pizza Genius, I’m not suggesting that such a myth is widely held. Instead, it’s just a notion that casually lodged itself in my mind. In addition to baking pizza, I’ve had the opportunity to visit three noted pizza joints. In 2017, I dropped by Anthony Mangieri’s restaurant Una Pizza Napolitana, when … Read More
Legal commentary has gone through changes in the past twenty years that are comparable to what has happened to all commentary, in this country and throughout the world. Here are my impressions. Gatekeepers and Scriveners Twenty years ago, if I wanted to publish an article, I had a handful of possible outlets owned by various media companies and bar associations. … Read More
Inspired by this morning’s post about not making contract language too informal, here are my 11 commandments for drafting business contracts: Contract language should be clear. Contract language should be only as complicated as it needs to be. Contract language should be precise. Contract language should omit redundancy. Contract language shouldn’t say the same thing twice. Contract language should be … 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
In the early days of the pandemic, the fortunate among us had the luxury of wondering what to do with themselves in isolation. It seems that for many, the answer was, “Baking!” In particular, Ooni pizza ovens have been selling like crazy. If you find yourself in the company of people who own an Ooni pizza oven, be prepared for … Read More
Hell is other people’s reviews. In October I bought a copy of The Joy of Pizza, by Dan Richer with Katie Parla. Richer is owner of the restaurant Razza, a noted pizza joint in Jersey City. Parla is a food writer and cookbook author based in Italy. After buying it, I looked at some reviews on Amazon. I quickly spotted … Read More
On 30 August, Joanne and I should have been in Nashville to see for the first time Steve Earle and his band in concert, but COVID put the kibosh on that. Instead, we saw Colin Hay at the City Winery in New York City. This year I’ve found myself listening more closely than previously to both Earle and Hay. And … Read More
Above is a sample cover slide from my new PowerPoint deck. At the bottom of this post is the cover slide I’ve been using for years, so yes, the new design is a big upgrade. The photo in the cover slide is customizable, so I contemplate changing it for different clients and different kinds of presentations. By itself, a new … Read More
I’ve decided to offer digital credentials—a certificate and a badge—to participants in my course Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass. You’ll be able to click on the certificate to confirm that it’s authentic and get details of the course. And you’ll be able to upload the clickable badge on LinkedIn and elsewhere. The digital badge is in the image above; it was … Read More
