Go here for the recording of the 8 November panel discussion in London hosted by UCL Faculty of Laws, with Mark Anderson as moderator and me as one of the panel members. Go here for more about the event, and see my four previous blog posts for some follow-up.
I sure in heck haven’t watched it myself. Watching and listening to myself aren’t among my favorite activities!
Here are two more bits of feedback that drifted in:
I was genuinely surprised by the amount of resistance that you faced from the panel (beyond the platitude that clearer drafting is a good idea – brilliant!). I had been expecting it to be more of a ‘we love Ken’ show.
[Y]esterday evening’s talk at UCL … seemed to me barely concealed ferocity. I thought you handled it with great aplomb.
What these attendees observed was simply the standard skepticism of people used to traditional contract language when faced with some of my ideas. I’d encounter it more often if I were to share a stage more often with traditionalists. It doesn’t perturb me, because I know change takes a long time and will require give-and-take in the marketplace of ideas. I have no illusions about winning everyone over; all I aim to do is help those who are open to change.
I also thought you handled it with great aplomb, but I didn’t see animosity. Rather, I saw sincere, different perspectives. We may think some of those perspectives to be flawed, head in the sand, or whatever. But I think it is extremely valuable to see those perspectives being articulated. My impression from speaking to people who attended is that they found the discussion very interesting. My prediction is that this event will result in several hundred people moving towards the KA view. Maybe not immediately, but over time.