Process

I recently saw this article by Fred Krebs suggesting, very sensibly, that “general counsel have a significant opportunity to help lead corporate innovation.” I used to think that although a company’s rank and file might be wedded to turgid traditional contract language and a ponderous copy-and-paste contract process, the odds of change would greatly improve if I were able to … Read More

I noted with interest Tim Cummins’s post asking whether contract managers and lawyers actually care about contract results (here). Read the post for yourself, but here are the bits that caught my eye: How many contract and commercial managers, how many lawyers, actually care about the quality of the contracts they produce? How many actively monitor or seek to learn … Read More

It’s easy to find on Twitter people eager to embrace as a “tipping point” every questionable come-to-us-for-your-contracts offering. Express skepticism and they might invoke Clayton Christensen, much as one would brandish a crucifix, or garlic, or whatever, at a vampire. (Your ears burning, @jordan_law21? :-) ) The buzzword is “disruption.” But some people are pushing back at the notion of … Read More

I have a list with hyperlinks to my blog posts and articles about the contracts process. Periodically I update it; go here for the most recent version. But if you’re interested in the contracts process, you’ll also want to check out @theContractsGuy‘s posts on how to sign a contract (here) and keeping track of contract versions (here).

Cousin Joshua Stein pointed out to me this post on Above the Law. It’s by Keith Lee, who has his own site, Associate’s Mind. Keith’s post is about the perils of hasty change: Put simply, don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up. Policies and procedures that are in place are likely … Read More

I was interested to learn, via @martinertl, of an article on Slate.com by Jessica Olien (@jessicaolien) entitled Inside the Box: People Actually Don’t Like Creativity (here). I recommend that you read the entire article, but here are some bits that caught my eye and seemed relevant to what I’m trying to do: This is the thing about creativity that is … Read More

We know that in general, BigLaw contract drafting leaves a lot to be desired. We also know that when it comes to changing how they draft contracts, law firms face greater obstacles than do companies. (See this article.) But change is possible: at least one Australian law firm that I know of, Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King & Wood Mallesons), … Read More

In this post I quote Tim Hadley’s email to me regarding how the other side to a transaction responded to his MSCD-inspired drafting. An interesting additional aspect to Tim’s interaction with counsel representing the buyer was the cover note he added to the draft. Go here to see a PDF copy. Tim was prompted to add his cover note by … Read More

For purposes of implementing clearer contract language and a more efficient contract process, change at the level of the organization allows change to happen more quickly. But given that inertia holds sway at most organizations, I suspect that change is mostly being implemented by individuals, whether operating on their own or within organizations. Last week I encountered an example of … Read More