I’m overhauling my website, and today I was reminded that the page devoted to A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting has testimonials that were valuable 17 or 13 years ago but are no longer relevant. So I’d like to replace them. (Thank you again to those who submitted those testimonials; it’s time for a well-deserved rest.)
I’d like to replace them with a bunch of testimonials that reflect the hurly-burly of my life. I’d love to hear from longtime contacts, from people who’ve attended my training, from people who’ve consulted MSCD, from people who read my blog, from people around the world—from anyone who thinks what I do is of value. It doesn’t matter whether we’ve ever been in contact.
I’d like people to submit on Twitter or on LinkedIn testimonials of up to 25 words about either me or A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. You could submit a comment to my LinkedIn post about this campaign, or you could submit a post of your own. And you could reply to one of my tweets, or you could do a tweet of your own.
I’ll post on my website whatever you have to say, whatever photo you use on LinkedIn or Twitter (as applicable), and your LinkedIn URL or Twitter name. The new website is sharp, but if you decide you don’t like anything, I’d immediately take down your testimonial.
If you’re looking for inspiration, you could plug “feedback” into my site’s search function and look at what seminar participants have had to say over the years. But I suggest you say whatever you feel like saying, in whatever manner you think appropriate. Funny. Heartfelt. Provocative. Jokey. (“I liked the wire binding better!)
And please say it before the end of the day Friday, 16 April! I hope to hear from some of you.
As a nuclear engineer and submariner turned attorney, I have found A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting a cool and very refreshing breeze of fresh air in the law, which is generally seriously hostile to improvements and which is in a defensive crouch against anything that might reduce the role of insider tribal knowledge and hand-me-down lore with serious and systematic studies on problem prevention. I think of Ken’s work as laying a foundation for serious improvement, very similar to Lister’s work in making sterile surgery routine — and very similar in that it provoked a strong negative reaction from the old guard.
My fantasy is that someday there is a movement that likewise recognizes badly drafted statutes as failures and that I can write “A Manual of Style for Statute Drafting” that is half as good as Ken’s work on contracts, because that would be an extraordinary leap forward.
Thank you! And I too have fantasized about A Manual of Style for Statute Drafting. All it would take is a suitably energetic co-author.