For the first time, I had a look at the Google searches that led people to this site. Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 47,000 of them, covering a multitude of topics. Many point unerringly at topics that happen to be favorites of mine, such as “if a deadline is at midnight is it 11:59 or 12:00.” Some are a little poignant, like “I’m a failed drafter”!
If you’ll forgive a measure of navel contemplation, here are the top 20 since the beginning of this year:
- adams drafting (766 visits)
- guaranty vs guarantee (477 visits)
- indemnify and hold harmless (457 visits)
- for the avoidance of doubt (420 visits)
- ken adams (402 visits)
- guaranty or guarantee (356 visits)
- adams on contract drafting (279 visits)
- guarantee or guaranty (261 visits)
- contract drafting (260 visits)
- including without limitation (255 visits)
- days notice (251 visits)
- guarantee vs guaranty (237 visits)
- materiality scrape (237 visits)
- know all men by these presents ( (222 visits)
- without limitation (209 visits)
- difference between guarantee and guaranty (204 visits)
- guaranty guarantee (199 visits)
- guarantee guaranty (193 visits)
- successors and assigns (188 visits)
- as amended (187 visits)
What do I conclude from this? Not a whole lot, but here goes:
- The BIG winner is the difference between guarantee and guaranty, accounting for 1,923 visits when you aggregate the different flavors of that search. Go figure.
- I’m not surprised to see the usual suspects indemnify and hold harmless, including without limitation, and so on.
- I was surprised to see materiality scrape up there (it’s an M&A term). By contrast, double materiality was way back at 307, with 20 visits.
- I was also surprised to see know all men by these presents at number 14. It’s obviously still used enough to puzzle plenty of people. In fact, I received a phone call today from someone who was puzzled to have it at the top of a power of attorney he had been given to sign.
Interesting. Obviously the list highlights the most popular topics on your site, not necessarily the most popular contract drafting topics in general, but given the number and spread of postings you have there must be some correlation. I did a similar check of search terms on IP Draughts. I don’t have a posting on guarantee v guaranty, so this subject doesn’t feature in the search terms. The difference in meaning between indemnify and hold harmless is one the top ones on IP Draughts, as are change of control clauses (more of a policy issue than a drafting issue), and shall v will. What I take from this is that many people are unclear about the meaning of commonly-used legalese in contracts.