I’m starting to prepare for my July seminars in Geneva [link no longer available]. If you’re still wondering whether you wish to attend, I offer the following propositions:
Regarding My “Drafting Clearer Contracts” Seminar
- Traditional contract language is bloated and confusing, resulting in organizations wasting vast amounts of time and money and assuming unnecessary risk.
- It’s overwhelmingly likely that you and your organization draft and review contracts that use traditional contract language.
- If you draft contracts using standard English rather than traditional contract language, your contracts will be clearer and more concise, saving you time and money and reducing risk.
- If you understand the difference between traditional contract language and contract language using standard English, you’ll be more likely to spot issues in contracts that you review.
- Understanding how to draft using standard English requires that you consult a comprehensive and rigorous set of guidelines.
- The only such guidelines currently available are those in my book A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting.
- If drafting or reviewing English-language contracts is an important part of your work, you would likely find my “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar a useful introduction to A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting.
- That’s particularly likely to be the case if you’re a non-native English speaker.
- My Geneva seminars are the only European seminars I have planned.
Regarding My Seminar “The Structure of U.S. Mergers-and-Acquisitions Contracts”
- Traditionally, U.S. lawyers have relied on conventional wisdom to understand the interplay of the parts of an M&A contract.
- That conventional wisdom is flawed.
- It is impossible to understand the interplay of the parts of an M&A contract by reviewing contracts drafted consistent with the conventional wisdom.
- The most rigorous and practical study of the subject is my book The Structure of M&A Contracts.
- If you work on deals that use U.S.-style documentation, my seminar “The Structure of U.S. Mergers-and-Acquisitions” would provide an opportunity for you to discuss this complex topic in detail.
- My Geneva seminars are the only European seminars I have planned.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch. I hope to see you in Geneva!
I recently bought your ‘Manual of Style for Contract Drafting’. I wish I could have used such a great and useful manual when I was a young M&A lawyer with the Swiss office of a global law firm. We had no such help and worked mainly with (often less than helpful) contracts used in past transactions. The result looked often legal(istic) but would hopefully never have to been tested in a court with a minimal knowledge of Anglo-American law customs … thanks for sharing your knowledge by publishing your manual!
Martin: I myself wish that I could have used MSCD! And your comment suggests that I’m not crazy in thinking that young Geneva lawyers would find my seminars useful. Please help spread the word! Ken