I recently posted this item discussing Lexicon, a tool for organizing and checking defined terms. Lexicon’s website contains a page discussing “The Seven Deadly Sins of Defined Terms.” Among the sins described is the following: Overlapping Definitions–When one Defined Term is contained within another, confusion can arise. For example, if (1) “Company,” (2) “Company Promissory Note,” (3) “Guarantee,” and (4) … Read More
It’s that time again: I’m looking for a company that would be interested in taking part in a contract-redrafting project with my class at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The idea is that I’ll select one contract out of those submitted by June 15. In the fall 2008 semester my class will redraft all or part of it, and … Read More
Considering having me do an in-house seminar but want to know more? Then I suggest you might want to have me give you and any other decisionmaker at your organization a run-through of whichever of my seminars interests you, “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” or “The Structure of M&A Contracts.” We’d use GoToMeeting or WebEx so that you could see my … Read More
A few books on contract drafting have been published in the last couple of years: Butt, Peter & Castle, Richard, Modern Legal Drafting: A Guide to Using Clearer Language (2d ed. 2006). Darmstadter, Howard, Hereof, Thereof, and Everywhereof (2d ed. 2008). Haggard, Thomas R., and Kuney, George W., Legal Drafting in a Nutshell (3d ed. 2007). Kuney, George W., The … Read More
In case you’re interested, here’s the latest on MSCD2: I wasn’t satisfied with the design of MSCD, so I was ready for a fight over the design of MSCD2. But I’ve just seen some sample pages, and they look great. I’m already looking forward to seeing the finished product. I’m currently working on the last item that I have yet … Read More
The site was offline for most of yesterday due to high drama involving my server. Sorry about that; it shouldn’t happen again.
Here are the U.S. cities where I’ll be giving my “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminar with West Legalworks in the second half of 2008: Seattle, Thursday, July 17 Washington, D.C., Wednesday, September 24 Minneapolis, Thursday, October 16 Boston, Wednesday, October 29 New York, Tuesday, November 18 San Francisco, Tuesday, December 9 Click here to go to the relevant page of … Read More
Here’s what The Chicago Manual of Style 8.55 has to say about use of initial capitals in references to political divisions: Words denoting political divisions—from empire, republic, and state down to ward and precinct—are capitalized when they follow a name and are used as an accepted part of the name. When preceding the name, such terms are usually capitalized in … Read More
In this November 2006 post I wrote about words that are fine in narrative writing but would be out of place in a contract. Well, I’ve thought of some more—therefore and related words such as thus, hence, and consequently. Here’s an example I just spotted: The term of this agreement will end three years following the date on which notice … Read More
Here’s a standard waiver provision: Waiver. No provision in this agreement may be waived, except by means of a writing signed by the party against whom the waiver is sought to be enforced. I find such provisions very odd. Let’s start by considering what a waiver is. There are two kinds of waiver: First, a contract might specify that Widgetco … Read More
