Here’s another entry in the rhetorical-emphasis hall of shame—in all respects. Here’s an example: This agreement is in all respects governed by Minnesota law. By omitting in all respects you lose nothing except surplus words. The same goes for in all material respects—use instead materially, but remember that it’s ambiguous. (For more on that, see chapter 8 of the second … Read More
People who attended certain of my recent public seminars received a copy of the first edition of MSCD just as it was about to be made obsolete. So I’m making the second edition available for $25—one third the regular price—plus shipping to those who participated in the following public seminars: April 1, 2008 seminar in Vancouver organized by Osgoode Professional … Read More
If you’re attending the 2008 American Bar Association annual meeting and you’re in a contract-drafting frame of mind, here’s what I’ll be doing there: Thursday, August 7, 2:00PM–3:30PM, “Meet the Author,” ABA Source, Hilton New York (Second Level of the Conference Area), 1335 Avenue of the Americas Friday, August 8, 2:30PM–4:30PM, Panel Discussion, “Getting the Business Deal into the Contract—Choosing the … Read More
In this post on his Law Department Management blog, Rees Morrision—prolific consultant to law departments—quotes a survey in the July 2008 issue of Inside Counsel as saying “33.5% of in-house counsel reported that law firm services are a commodity.” Here’s Rees’s take on this: Loyalty rates of law departments to law firms suggest otherwise, and incessant fee increases by law … Read More
In this post on his Goldman’s Observations blog, Eric Goldman describes a dispute between FaceTime Communications and Reuters. Reuters licensed FaceTime’s software for two years and devoted significant resources to customizing the software. Reuters had an option to pay $150,000 for a perpetual license, but for reasons that aren’t entirely explained, Reuters didn’t exercise the option before the deadline, namely … Read More
Eric Goldman recently sent me the following inquiry: A typical vendor’s contract will say something like “Customer shall pay invoiced amounts within 30 days of invoicing.” With some frequency, customers have been marking up this language to read: “Customer shall pay *UNDISPUTED* invoiced amounts within 30 days of invoicing.” From a vendor’s perspective, I think the added language is objectionable … Read More
Through this post by Michael Fleming on the Cyberspace Lawyer’s Blogger, I learned that the Cyberspace Law Committee of the ABA Section of Business Law is proposing to draft new model contracts. This project sounds interesting: The Liberty Alliance Project is, in its own words, working to “enable a networked world based on open standards where consumers, citizens, businesses and governments can … Read More
For those who like planning in advance, here are my West Legalworks seminar dates for 2009: Feb. 24, Houston Mar. 3, Atlanta April 9, Cleveland May 7, Chicago June 2, Philadelphia July 16, Seattle Sept. 15, Los Angeles Sept. 24, Washington, D.C. Oct. 13, Minneapolis Oct. 27, Boston Nov. 17, New York Dec. 8, San Francisco I’m pleased that West … Read More
The May 2008 issue of The Business Lawyer contains a great article by Glenn D. West and Sara G. Duran of Weil Gotshal entitled “Reassessing the ‘Consequences’ of Consequential Damage Waivers in Acquisition Agreements.” Click here for a copy. Here’s the abstract: Consequential damage waivers are a frequent part of merger and acquisition agreements involving private company targets. Although these … Read More
I have a soft spot for nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs (also known as confidentiality agreements): They’re relatively short and straightforward, yet they’re subtle enough that drafters routinely screw them up. And they’re commonplace; in fact, they’re something of a nuisance—the cockroach of the contract-drafting world. These characteristics mean that they’re the obvious guinea pig for anyone contemplating innovation in contract … Read More
