Dale Carnegie, an early-twentieth-century U.S. writer and lecturer on self-improvement, famously said, “Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.” Whatever the merits of that gem, it doesn’t apply to contracts. In particular, don’t say what you’re going to say, as in this example: This agreement states the terms under which the … Read More
MSCD 4.34 says that in a set of enumerated clauses, the period should occur at the end of the last enumerated clause. This post is about what it can look like if you don’t do that. Consider the sentence above. (It’s a long one.) All we’re concerned with is the initial set of enumerated clauses and how it relates to … Read More
Recently I did this post prompted by an exchange with a reader. That exchange started with my reader asking this question: How do you stay on top of contract dispute cases that deal with imprecision of language, as you discuss on your website? Are there certain search terms you use in Westlaw? I have tried to search for cases, but … Read More
A few days ago I encountered the word coterminous for the first time … ever? Of course, it was in a contract. Here’s the Blacks Law Dictionary definition: coterminous (koh-tər-mə-nəs) adj. (18c) 1. (Of ideas or events) coextensive in time or meaning <Judge Smith’s tenure was coterminous with Judge Jasper’s>. Is coterminous a worthwhile term of art, or is it … Read More
This is the first of two posts prompted by what a reader said in a recent exchange of emails. Here’s one thing they said: On more than one occasion, a colleague has used the term “academic” as a pejorative to describe my interest in an issue. For example, “well, let’s try to stay away from just academic discussions and concentrate … Read More
Today we salute Meade Ali. Meade is a longtime reader, but he also happens to be a participant in one of the current series of Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass. It was in that capacity that he laid it on me: in chapter 3, in table 1, on page 52, example [1-2b] is marked with two Xs but it should in … Read More
I’m getting the hang of Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass. I’m no Zoom maestro, but I’ve sorted out my two-device setup (so I can annotate my PowerPoint presentation while keeping an eye on things), and it’s been a while since I screwed things up. And my ring light shows my ravaged mug to great effect! I’m pleased with Thinkific, the learning … Read More
Other than my posts for LegalSifter (which don’t really count), I can’t recall having ever done an original guest post on someone else’s blog. Well, if you want to read my post Suggestions for a New Contracts Blogger, you’ll have to go to Nada Alnajafi‘s new blog, Contract Nerds. I wish Nada all the best with her blog.
Thanks to a tip from @ZedtheGamer, I encountered the concept of anniversary month in this bit of convolution: Anniversary month evidently means the month in which the anniversary of a given event occurs. Here’s how it’s defined in an Illinois statute: “Anniversary month” means the month in which the anniversary of the limited liability company occurs. By default it’s forward-looking, … Read More
In today’s post about nonlawyers and contract drafting (here), I offer contract managers a discount on my new online course Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass. Why contract managers? Why not other nonlawyer constituencies? One reason is that contract managers might be the biggest, most homogenous nonlawyer bloc working with contracts. But mainly it’s because I’ve long thought that contract managers might … Read More
