You might have heard that I have a new blog, the Adams Contracts blog. It’s on the website of a new business, called … Adams Contracts. It’s a division of LegalSifter; we’re building automated contract templates. For more about Adams Contracts, go to our website, at www.adamscontracts.com. So, two blogs, and two spheres of activity. Here’s how I see this … Read More
You know you’re suitably paranoid about the potential for confusion in contract language if you spot instances of that sort of confusion in your everyday life. Yesterday I was in urgent need of ice-cream therapy, so I got me a pint of the Ben & Jerry’s flavor (previously unknown to me) called “Salted Caramel Brownie.” Here’s the fine-print description: Vanilla … Read More
I’m pleased to be able to make available my law review article The Word Material Is Ambiguous in Contracts, Why That’s a Problem, and How to Fix It. It’s in Scribes Journal of Legal Writing; go here for a copy. (The issue in which it appears hasn’t yet been published, but these days no one waits for that.) Use of … Read More
Yesterday I encountered this LinkedIn post about “canons of construction.” (I call them “principles of interpretation.”) The post begins as follows: Tip for law students and newer attorneys: Familiarize yourself with the rules of contract interpretation (often called “canons”), if, like me, you didn’t learn them in law school. Courts rely on these default rules to interpret contracts and statutes. … Read More
This post is about how we manage time. When it comes to video entertainment, I’m partial to shows that offer flair and imagination but don’t demand too much of me. That’s how I found myself watching the first episode of Justified: City Primeval, featuring the further adventures of U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens. Bam, 36 seconds in, they hit me with … Read More
I noticed that WorldCC and Deloitte Legal have produced a report entitled The ROI of Contracting Excellence 2023. (Go here to ask for a copy.) It’s mostly unrelated to what I do, but I noticed this passage on page 11 of the report: In consumer markets, many organizations (and regulators) have grasped the importance of greater balance and of simplifying … Read More
I noticed that another legacy-media holdover, Scientific American, has devoted an article (here) to that recent study on lawyer attitudes to contracts legalese. In this recent post, I explain how that study is misleading. But that’s not what this post is about. Instead, in passing I noticed this in the Scientific American article: Jeremy Telman, a law professor at the … Read More
I’ve previously written about the word nonlawyer, in this 2020 blog post. Prompted by something I posted on LinkedIn yesterday (here), I thought I’d try again, to reflect a further thought. So this post is my definitive take, until my next nonlawyer post! I think what Julie Savarino says in this LinkedIn post (see also Julie’s follow-up post here) captures … Read More
I was among the few million people who noticed a video of President Obama urging young people to become known for getting stuff done. Here’s the tie-in to contract drafting: It would indeed be to a junior person’s benefit to acquire a reputation for getting stuff done. That requires competence. I suggest that for purposes of contract drafting, being an … Read More
Today someone asked me this in an email message: Are you exploring training AI to incorporate A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting for proofreading contracts? I could see value in a plug-in that incorporates (in track changes) relevant proposed modifications after “learning” the contents of MSCD and applying it to all or part of a contract. This isn’t the … Read More
