I use one of my TweetDeck columns to search Twitter for references to “contract drafting.” Out of the flotsam that’s pulled in, I’ve found one category that’s particularly intriguing. It consists of Twitter updates in Indonesian. I have no idea what’s being discussed, as just about the only words in English are “contract drafting.” Here’s one example, sent by @apriliansyah: … Read More
The other day I spoke with someone about a chunk of my work. This person was entirely helpful and congenial, but he gently made it clear that he wasn’t inclined to pay much attention to my analysis and recommendations. Instead, he said that his organization preferred to do things “their way.” Referring to “your way” is fine when it comes … Read More
I’m partial to comparing contract language to software code. And I’m not the only one. For example, on Twitter @dgulbran said, “Programming and contract drafting both appeal to me; they both require logical consistency and attention to detail. I may need mental help.” (Welcome to the club, Dave!) But the analogy goes only so far. In my recent post on … Read More
This week 3 Geeks and a Law Blog offered three posts by guest blogger Ian Nelson, of Practical Law Company, on the role of practice support lawyers, or PSLs, in the U.S. The third in the series appeared yesterday; they’re all available here. (Ian’s a former colleague. Yo, Ian!) Here’s where Ian ends up: The PSL role should be less … Read More
I’ll assume that you’re aware that Watson, IBM’s artificial-intelligence “question answering machine,” bested two human competitors on “Jeopardy” this week. (If not, check out this New York Times story.) It didn’t take long for this event to acquire a legal angle, in the form of this National Law Journal article by Robert Weber, IBM’s general counsel. In it, he suggests … Read More
You may recall that I was on a panel at the 2010 ACC annual meeting. I included in the materials for that panel three versions of an extract of a master professional services agreement. I thought that they might be of general interest, so I offer them to you now, in Word: Go here for the “before” version. Go here … Read More
[Updated 11:00 a.m. EST, February 17, 2011: Revised to reflect that I’ve found a flavor of solicit that I can live with, and to include some new no-soliciting language.] It’s common for confidentiality agreements to contain a no-soliciting provision. But when you come to think of it—and I just have—usually the solicit bit doesn’t work very well. In this context, … Read More
The Canadian Lawyer article on contract automation (see this post) starts with the following quotation: “Every lawyer steals like crazy. You have to. … It’s much faster, and it’s good to go with tried-and-true boilerplate. You worry about the differences, not the standard clauses.” The reference to stealing brought to mind my article on copyright in contract drafting. (Go here … Read More
The Canadian Lawyer has just published this article by donalee Moulton (yes, small “d”) about contract automation. I was pleased that I was quoted a couple of times and Koncision was mentioned. I was also pleased that the article quotes extensively Kathleen Hogan, one of my friends at Cassels Brock in Toronto, and Tim Allen of Business Integrity, my technology … Read More
West LegalEdcenter has published, in a versatile PDF-only format, Ken Adams’s new book, The Structure of M&A Contracts. Like A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, this book is rigorous, innovative, and practical, and it’s unmatched in the M&A literature. Here is what two well-known M&A lawyers have to say about the book: This book will quickly become a go-to reference … Read More
