Payne Group, the software training and development company, has incorporated into the Numbering Assistant, its enumeration software, the recommendations made in Ken Adams’s A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting regarding enumeration and layout of blocks of contract text. It does so by offering both MSCD numbering schemes (the first-line-indent enumeration scheme and the hanging-indent enumeration scheme) as built-in Numbering Assistant numbering schemes, with each scheme being offered in “articles” and “sections” versions.
This arrangement has made it much easier for drafters, including Ken himself, to adopt MSCD‘s recommendations regarding layout. The Numbering Assistant also makes it much easier to create a table of contents for a contract.
For any organization looking for greater efficiency and consistency in its contract drafting, a good place to start would be to install the Numbering Assistant and require that all drafters use it to apply one or other MSCD scheme.
A perpetual license to the Numbering Assistant costs $78; students and faculty are entitled to a 10% discount. If you’d like a free 30-day trial, click here to send an email to PayneGroup. If you’re a student or faculty member, please specify your school. (Ken isn’t being paid to promote The Numbering Assistant and won’t receive any commissions on sales.)
Ken now uses only MSCD‘s hanging-indent enumeration scheme—it’s simpler and more logical.
The first-line-indent scheme is more complex. Go here for tips on using the Numbering Assistant to apply MSCD‘s first-line-indent numbering scheme. And if you don’t have the Numbering Assistant, go here for tips on working with a document formatted using MSCD‘s first-line-indent numbering scheme.