Last week I received the following inquiry from reader Vance Koven: I am moved to put this issue to you, as it is in some ways related to your comments in MSCD and elsewhere on back-dating contracts, which I agree is a no-no, especially for public companies, or making contracts “retroactively effective” in similar ways. I have come across a … Read More
In conjunction with the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic’s “Legal Hackathon,” today Docracy is launching a “hacking contracts” contest. To enter, use Docracy to revise one of four contracts (described as easy, medium, or hard). You’ll have two weeks to submit entries. The winner gets a Kindle Fire. And no, you don’t have to go to Brooklyn to enter! … Read More
[Updated April 14, 2012: I’ve uploaded a new version of the template. Besides the changes mentioned below, I also belatedly fixed an annoying numbering glitch lurking in the first subsection of the “Notices” provision of the “BasicWord” version of the template. (“Listnum,” anyone?) I apologize for the inconvenience that has doubtless caused some of you.] Yesterday an interested observer sent … Read More
I’ve had occasion recently to consider cover sheets for contracts. That’s what I call the page that’s slapped on the front of a contract containing a table of contents—the first page of a table of contents isn’t what you’d want to show the world. In my days as a law-firm foot soldier, I’d cobble together rudimentary cover sheets. They consisted … Read More
*This isn’t an April Fools’ prank!* I had been vaguely aware of the “Fifty Shades” trilogy, described in this Maureen Dowd column as “bondage-themed romanticas that have evoked hysteria, whipping up a frenzy with the housewives of Long Island and rippling out from there.” They feature a dashing mogul, Christian Grey, and the object of his stern affections, the winsome Anastasia … Read More
For all sorts of reasons (see here) I’m partial to Canada. And Canadians have expressed an interest in my stuff that is beyond what you’d expect given the size of their legal market as compared to the U.S. legal market. So I’ve decided to create a Canadian version of Koncision’s confidentiality-agreement template—I don’t want Canadians to feel left out! To … Read More
In a 2009 post on AdamsDrafting I suggested that if an organization wants to adopt a style guide for contract drafting, the sensible option would be to piggy-back off of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. And I linked to a document that would allow an organization to do just that. I called it a “model statement of style … Read More
In this 2011 post I considered what information you should include in the introductory clause for entities formed outside the U.S. I’d now like to revisit something reader Vance Koven said in this comment, namely the following: Also remember that in the civil law tradition place of organization is less important than an entity’s siège social, which means that for … Read More
In addition to going to Chicago to give a seminar, I’ll be going there for ABA TechShow and for Inside Counsel’s SuperConference. ABA TechShow (why do the organizers insist on stating the name IN ALL CAPITALS?) runs from March 28 to March 31. I’ll be joining my friends at the ContractExpress booth, and we’ll be showcasing Koncision. I look forward … Read More
The road goes on forever. Here’s where I’ll be showing up next to give my “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar: Atlanta, April 5, for West LegalEdcenter (for more information, go here) Houston, April 13, in-house seminar Toronto, April 19, for Osgoode Professional Development (for more information, go here) Chicago, May 3, for West LegalEdcenter (for more information, go here) Denver, May … Read More
