Recently I did in Toronto a day-long workshop entitled “An Intensive Program in the Categories of Contract Language.” “The categories of contract language” is my term for issues relating to use of verb structures in contracts, including how to express obligations, the distinction between obligations and conditions, and appropriate use of the word shall, among many others. Handling the categories of contract language effectively is the foundation of controlled drafting.
In my “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar we devote about an hour to the categories of contract language, but necessarily that’s only an introduction. Because my recent Toronto session went well, I’ve now decided to offer my in-house clients the option of adding on a 3.5 hour session on “Advanced Categories of Contract Language.” Most of this session would consist of going through together a 30-question multiple-choice quiz, with participants using their cell phones to vote on which answer they’d choose, after which we’d discuss each option and why it works or doesn’t work. We’d also spend around 45 minutes going over a sample commercial contract, analyzing some of its categories-of-contract-language shortcomings.
If this is of interest, I invite you to contact me.
