In addition to analyzing topics that are entirely new to me, part of what I do is fill small gaps in MSCD‘s coverage. So in that spirit, here’s a neat little gap-filler, fed to me by a law student. The case is IPE Asset Management, LLC v. Fairview Block & Supply Corp., 123 A.D.3d 883, 999 N.Y.S.2d 465 (2014) (PDF here), … Read More
Last night I saw the following tweet from @kemitchell: @KonciseD Can I sub "now assigns" or "presently assigns" for "hereby assigns" to exclude the habitual? Matter how the K is dated? MSCD 3.20 — Kyle E. Mitchell (@kemitchell) April 27, 2015 Ah, variants on a category of contract language, namely language of performance! Here’s the relevant bit of MSCD 3.20: … Read More
Yesterday ContractsProf Blog published this guest post by Tina Stark. It serves as a reminder that drafters should distinguish sale of a company from a shareholder’s selling shares. It also serves as a reminder that there are different ways to sell a company. Here’s the gist of it, from Tina’s post: In Buckingham v. Buckingham, 14335 314297/11, NYLJ at *1 (App. Div., 1st, Decided … Read More
Recently Eric Goldman (otherwise know as @ericgoldman) alerted me to In re SuperMedia, Inc., an opinion by the Delaware U.S. Bankruptcy Court. (Go here for a PDF copy.) It has a lesson to offer regarding how to avoid confusion over whether contract terms apply to changed circumstances. Marketing company SuperMedia had a contract with Yellow Pages Photos, Inc., a provider of stock … Read More
There’s style, and there’s substance, no? Well, not quite. Some drafting decisions don’t affect meaning. That includes all decisions relating to the look of a document. It also includes some decisions regarding wording. Witless archaisms such as witnesseth don’t affect meaning. And consider Acme may purchase the Shares and Acme is authorized to purchase the Shares. I recommend using the version … Read More
In addition to bringing in outside lawyers to take part in my “intensive” Contract Drafting course at Notre Dame Law School (as described in this post), I wrapped up the course with a drafting project for an outside organization. More specifically, we prepared our version of a new template contract for Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA). … Read More
Here are some thoughts I put together for the recent IACCM “ask the expert” call that I did with Tim Allen, Business Integrity’s vice president–North America. I usually spend most of my time discussing what ails traditional contract drafting—dysfunctional language and the dysfunctional copy-and-paste process. But a lot of us are now all too familiar with the problems, so I’ve … Read More
The May 16 issue of the Canadian periodical The Lawyers Weekly contains my article With “Efforts” Provisions, Reasonable Is Better Than Best. Go here for a PDF. It’s addresses the Canadian caselaw, but it should be of interest to anyone who has wondered about how to handle best efforts versus reasonable efforts or any other efforts variant.
Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law has just published my book-review essay Dysfunction in Contract Drafting: The Causes and a Cure. (Go here for a PDF copy.) It’s a critique of the book The Three and a Half Minute Transaction: Boilerplate and the Limits of Contract Design, by Mitu Gulati and Robert E. Scott. I know what you’re thinking: “Law … Read More
[Revised 1:50 p.m. EDT, April 26, 2012, to reflect comments by Vance, Mike, and Guest. In the original version, I didn’t explore the procedural side. And further revised 6:00 a.m. EDT, April 30, 2012, to eliminate the words “joint” and “several” from my proposed language.] In this 2007 post on the AdamsDrafting blog I discuss the phrase joint and several. … Read More
