The relentless Kevin Toll (see this blog post) has proposed that I ditch thereafter. Here are some of his proposed changes to Adams Contracts templates: Regarding afterward, Garner’s Modern English Usage 37 (5th ed. 2022) says, “Afterwards (= later) is often changed to afterward by American editors, though in popular usage the two forms are used interchangeably. Across World Englishes, … Read More
At the beginning of this year, I said in this blog post that you cannot be an informed consumer (or producer) of contract language without consulting A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. No one has suggested I’m mistaken. I’m not surprised—disagreeing with me would require that you either (1) mount a spirited defense of copy-and-pasting dysfunction or (2) point … Read More
Last week, Kevin Miller, LegalSifter’s CEO, used Adams Contracts’ confidentiality agreement template. In the process, he suggested that I bold the title. When Kevin shared his opinion, I realized I’ve never explained why I don’t bold the title, and no one had ever commented on that preference. So around 25 years into my grand adventure, allow me to articulate to … Read More
In its recent opinion in Salama v. Simon, No. 2024-1124-JTL, 2024 WL 4906737 (Del. Ch. Nov. 27, 2024), the Delaware Court of Chancery cites A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting for what it has to say about “the expectation of relevance.” That’s a concept underlying a subtle ambiguity associated with the word may. Rather than discuss the expectation of … Read More
At long last, go here for details of the initial Drafting Clearing Contracts training for 2025, consisting of three series of Masterclass and one presentation. (Go here for general information about Masterclass; go here for general information about my presentations.) On the course site you’ll see links to testimonials. In recent years, I’ll done little blurb harvesting—it can be a … Read More
Recently, noted swashbuckler and longtime comrade-in-arms Alex Hamilton issued me a challenge: Why not give a contract just an “effective date” without worrying about whether effective date refers to the date of the contract or timing of performance? Confusion In A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, I say you should distinguish between the two concepts. In particular, don’t give … Read More
At the recent ACC annual meeting, Adrian Goss—whom I first met a dozen years ago on a trip to Australia—told me he had uploaded some miscellaneous-provisions stuff from Practical Law and asked ChatGPT to redraft it so it complies with the guidelines in A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. In this 2023 blog post, I discuss the notion of … Read More
I left Twitter in 2023. That was an easy decision—it had become a Nazi bar under the auspices of a billionaire man-child. After a couple of false starts, last month I found an agreeable Twitter alternative—Bluesky. Although Jack Dorsey, then Twitter CEO, was involved in the early days of Bluesky (in 2019), an appealing aspect of Bluesky is that becoming … Read More
I noted with interest this post on LinkedIn by Scott Simmons, a business-development coach. Scott kicks the post off by saying, “We need to talk about perfect. The legal profession has a problem with perfectionism.” But Scott’s post isn’t actually about perfectionism. Instead, it’s about lawyers being bad at “dealing with mistakes or setbacks.” You don’t have to be a … Read More
This post nerds out on defined-term protocols. Specifically, should one use, or not use, the (or a or an) in defined-term parentheticals for defined terms that otherwise use the (or a or an)? MSCD says “include in a defined-term parenthetical the definite article the or the indefinite article a (or an), as appropriate. An article isn’t necessary unless the defined … Read More
