From the perspective of the presenter, one key way in which webcasts differ from live seminars is that feedback is hard to come by: since launching my series of webcasts with West LegalEdcenter, I’ve heard nary a peep from anyone who has watched them. That made it particularly gratifying to receive the following email from Gary Karl, a partner in the Rochester office of Harter Secrest & Emery LLP:
Ken,
I apologize for being so late in letting you know how much I enjoyed—and learned from—your webcast series this summer. As a practitioner for more than 25 years, I have always enjoyed the challenge of drafting agreements and disclosure documents. But at the same time I was sometimes puzzled by the mysterious lore attached to the drafting process and the stilted language so often used.
I never really took the time to investigate my questions, and too often assumed that there were valid reasons why we transactional lawyers say things the way we do. Then I discovered MSCD2, and I found the answers to all of my questions–and many more that I should have asked along the way but didn’t.
Congratulations on debunking myths in MSCD2, and on bringing portions of MSCD2 to life through the webcasts. I particularly enjoyed watching you (in the virtual sense) redrafting provisions in Part 5; skewering the way we transactional lawyers misuse and overuse various words and phrases in Part 4; and the way you analytically broke down the categories of what practitioners (and judges) generically refer to as “ambiguity” in Part 3.
Years ago I adopted what you call “frontloading” (placing the most important terms at the beginning of a contract) as my personal style and I was happy to hear you make the case for that practice in Part 1.
In sum, Ken, I think your book and the webcasts are both great. At my firm I conduct some training for our youngest lawyers on the subject of “working with contracts,” and as a result of your webcasts I am able to introduce even more of your concepts to them.
Thank you so much for your efforts in to improve the contract drafting process, and best wishes for your continued success. I look forward to meeting you at one of your new and improved seminars in 2010.
Regards,Gary
