I often come away from a seminar having learned something new. For example, a participant at my recent Vancouver seminar asked me what I thought of the phrase dated for reference, as used in the introductory clause. I confessed that I hadn’t previously encountered it. After I arrived home, I searched on Lexis for use of the phrase in the … Read More
I don’t include in the introductory clause the address of a party that’s a legal entity. That’s because the introductory clause serves to distinguish a given party from any other person or entity with that name. For a legal entity, that’s accomplished by giving its jurisdiction of organization or its registration number; you don’t also need its address. Party addresses … Read More
I’m now home after a whirlwind visit to Bahrain. I arrived from Oman on Wednesday afternoon, did a seminar on Thursday, then left on Friday morning. The seminar was under the auspices of the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative. My chaperones were James MacPherson and John Porter, who has just replaced James as the ABA’s resident advisor in Bahrain. The … Read More
Ah, the glamorous life of the contract nerd! Vancouver one week! Oman and Bahrain the next! Philadelphia in between! But more mundane work goes on: I spent my first day in Oman in my hotel room, working on the manuscript for MSCD2. Thanks to the valiant efforts of the all-volunteer AdamsDrafting proofreading irregulars, it’s in great shape. They spotted perhaps … Read More
How do I love Canada? Let me count the ways: It was a Canadian organization—Osgoode Professional Developement—that asked me to do my first public seminar. Attendance at my seminars in the U.S. with West Legalworks can fluctuate wildly, but my Osgoode seminars in Toronto sell out. (The next one is on June 16.) And last week 60 people attended my … Read More
This post comes to you from Muscat, Oman. I’m here under the auspices of the Rule of Law Initiative of the American Bar Association, at the request of the Sultanate of Oman Ministry of Legal Affairs. Yesterday I held my “Language and Layout” seminar for a team of Ministry lawyers responsible for reviewing and drafting contracts that agencies of the … Read More
This from the Lex column in today’s Financial Times, regarding Bear Stearns and the Cerberus litigation: It is too simplistic to blame sloppy drafting for disputes. Still, there may be room for improvement in terms of updating the often-archaic language used in merger agreements, as firms such as Jones Day and contract specialist Kenneth Adams have called for. This would … Read More
Input from readers of this blog has already served to enhance the second edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. But why stop there? I’ve just sent the ABA the manuscript for MSCD2. I enjoyed putting it together, as it contains a boatload of new material. What it needs now is proofreading, and that requires fresh sets of … Read More
Special thanks to reader Tony for reminding me of a usage that had slipped my mind: becoming party to a contract with respect to only certain provisions. For example, in an acquisition, the buyer’s parent might be party to the acquisition agreement solely to guarantee the buyer’s obligations or solely to undertake to pay a termination fee in certain circumstances. … Read More
[Update March 24, 5:30PM EDT: Some people are suggesting that there’s something fishy to the story of Wachtell’s “mistakes.” See, for example, this post at Dealbreaker, and this one on the Conglomerate Blog. On the other hand, Steven Davidoff’s analysis, at DealBook, takes the story at face value. I’ll let others who are closer to the deal figure out the … Read More
