In case you’re interested, here’s the latest on MSCD2:
I wasn’t satisfied with the design of MSCD, so I was ready for a fight over the design of MSCD2. But I’ve just seen some sample pages, and they look great. I’m already looking forward to seeing the finished product.
I’m currently working on the last item that […]
Here are the U.S. cities where I’ll be giving my “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminar with West Legalworks in the second half of 2008:
Seattle, Thursday, July 17
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, September 24
Minneapolis, Thursday, October 16
Boston, Wednesday, October 29
New York, Tuesday, November 18
San Francisco, Tuesday, December 9
Click here to go to the relevant page of West Legalworks’ […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
As I noted in this post, from April 21 through April 25 I’ll be giving my “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminar at the Geneva, Switzerland offices of Hogan & Hartson.
Well, I’ve now upgraded the registration system. For one thing, you can now pay by credit card, if you wish. To go to the registration page, […]
I’m pleased to announce that from Monday, April 21, through Friday, April 25, I’ll be giving five consecutive one-day seminars on “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” at the Geneva, Switzerland offices of the global law firm Hogan & Hartson.
All are welcome to register. The seminars are being supported by ACC Europe and by the International Bar […]
Today’s issue of the New York Law Journal contains my article on the recent litigation between Cerberus and United Rentals. Click here to go to a PDF copy. It’s also available at the NYLJ website if you’re a subscriber.
Kevin O’Keefe’s Real Lawyers Have Blogs has posted a Q&A with yours truly. Click here to go to it.
As I mentioned previously, Alliance Data Systems and Blackstone Group are in litigation over Blackstone’s proposed acquisition of ADS.
More specifically, ADS has filed a complaint alleging that Blackstone breached its obligations under the merger agreement by failing to use its “reasonable best efforts” to obtain the approval of the Office of the Comptroller of the […]
On April 1 I’ll be giving my “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminar in Vancouver, B.C., for the first time. Click here for the brochure.
As with my Toronto seminars, my host will be Osgoode Professional Development. The Toronto seminars have gone very well, so I expect the same for Vancouver. Come one, come all!
On Wednesday, January 9, at 1:00PM Eastern Time, the Law Department Management Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel will be holding their monthly teleconference. I’ll be the featured speaker—starting around 1:30PM I’ll be talking, for 15 minutes or so, about “Issues of Quality and Process in Handling Your Contracts.” That will be followed by […]
The December 14, 2007, issue of the Canadian periodical The Lawyers Weekly contains an article about yours truly. Click here for a pdf of the front page—including glam photo!— and here for a pdf of the interview itself. Click here for the online version of the article.
On December 5 I do my final West Legalworks seminar of 2007, in Miami. But in case you thought that was it, here are—drum roll, please—dates for additional U.S. “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminars for the first half of 2008:
February 13, Phoenix, AZ
February 28, Houston, TX
March 6, Orlando, FL
March 12, Richmond, VA
April 3, Philadelphia, PA
May […]
The December 2007 issue of the ACC Docket, the magazine of the Association of Corporate Counsel, contains the article “Transitioning Your Contract Process from the Artistic to the Industrial,” by Brian Quinn and yours truly. It provides an overview of issues that companies face in controlling the contract process and discusses some useful tools that […]
I’ll be in Chicago October 28–31, attending the annual meeting of the ACC (the Association of Corporate Counsel). And I’ll be attending as part of the DealBuilder team.
DealBuilder is the leading logic-based document-assembly software. It’s developed by Business Integrity, a company with an impressive roster of clients.
I’ve long said that only by embracing document assembly […]
Today’s issue of the New York Law Journal contains my article “Making Sense of ‘Shall.’” Click here to go to the PDF reprint. And click here to access it for free—at least for the time being—on the NYLJ’s website. My thanks to those who were kind enough to review drafts of this article.
The topic of […]
If commercial contracts are your thing and on Monday morning you find yourself in the Seattle area with some time on your hands, you might want to consider attending a presentation by Tim Cummins, president and CEO of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM to its friends).
The presentation is being hosted by […]
On December 10th I’ll be in Toronto doing my “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” workshop for Osgoode Professional Development. Click here to go to the relevant page of Osgoode Professional Development’s website; click here to see the brochure.
My three previous Osgoode workshops have been two-day affairs. Why only one day this time?
The first day of each […]
The Globe and Mail (the Canadian newspaper) has published my op-ed piece “>Behind the Scense of the Comma Dispute.” I hope you enjoy it!
I’ve belatedly added a couple of features to this blog.
If you wish to inform someone of a post, as an alternative to emailing them a link you can now click on the “Email this Post” link at the end of the post, fill in the blanks, and click “Mail It!”
And you can generate a printer-friendly […]
Today’s issue of the New York Law Journal contains my article Revisiting Materiality. Click here for a pdf reprint; it’s also available on the GC New York website (free registration required).
This article discusses how the word material—that favorite of deal lawyers—is ambiguous, and it suggests ways of addressing this problem. This is a topic that […]
I had originally had in mind some sort of journalistic report on my “How to Write Better Business Documents” panel discussion and other goings-on at the ABA’s 2007 annual meeting in San Francisco. But I’ve recovered my sanity and concluded that any such account would be infernally dull and indiscreet—an unpromising combination.
So I’ll limit myself […]
As I mentioned in this post, this coming Friday, August 10th, from 2:30PM to 4:30PM, Dick Wydick, Bryan Garner, and I will be speaking at the ABA annual meeting in San Francisco. The topic is “How to Write Better Business Documents.”
Some promotional materials gave as the title of this session “The Art of Persuasive Brief […]
I bring glad tidings: This fall I’ll be doing my “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminar in the following cities:
September 26, Washington, D.C.
October 17, Minneapolis
November 15, San Francisco
December 5, Miami
Click here to see the brochure.
West Legalworks and I are pleased with how the seminars are going, so you can expect them to become a fixture […]
The “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” summer tour continues! Next up is Jones Beach New York on Wednesday, July 18th, Seattle on Wednesday, July 25th, and Boston on Thursday, August 2nd. For more information, go to the “Public Seminars” page of my website.
So far I’ve done L.A., Dallas, and Chicago. Interestingly enough, the dynamic has been […]
I posted my first blog item a year ago yesterday, so I thought that a bit of navel contemplation was in order.
In this item on the theme of “Niche Thyself,” Kevin O’Keefe of Real Lawyers Have Blogs recently quoted with approval the notion that an entrepreneur aims to create something that is of high value […]
Late last year I created the “Software” page of this site to describe how the Numbering Assistant—a popular paragraph-numbering utility offered by Payne Consulting Group—has added to its preloaded enumeration schemes the “articles” and “no articles” versions of the enumeration scheme recommended in MSCD. The Numbering Assistant offers, at a nominal price, a painless way […]
I have more information regarding the “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminars that I’ll be giving this summer with West Legalworks. For one thing, here’s the brochure. And the “Public Seminars” page now contains links to the relevant pages of West Legalworks’ website.
Today’s issue of the New York Law Journal contains, in the “GC New York” section, my second bi-monthly “Contract Drafting” column.
Entitled “Sending Contracts Offshore,” this column explores the possible benefits to U.S. companies of having their contract-related work performed outside the U.S. It also discusses factors to bear in mind when deciding whether to have […]
I’ll be doing for West Legalworks a summer series of my “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminar. Here are the dates:
June 19, Los Angeles
June 21, Dallas
June 26, Chicago
July 18, New York City
July 25, Seattle
August 2, Boston
I hope to see you there. Once the brochure and the relevant page of West Legalworks’ website are ready, I’ll post […]
I’m looking for a company that would be interested in participating in a redrafting exercise that will form part of my Fall 2007 contract drafting course at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Whenever I teach contract drafting, I have my students redraft a contract to make it comply with the recommendations in A Manual of […]
The PDF brochure for my London, Paris, and Frankfurt seminars in April is now up. You can click here to go to it, and there are links to it from the “Public Seminars” page and from the page with the online version of the brochure.
By the way, it’s official: Ich bin der Guru des Drafting!
I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be giving my seminar “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” in London on April 17, in Paris on April 19, and in Frankfurt on April 26. For more information and to register online, go to this page of my website.
Why Paris and Frankfurt? As I suggest in this page of my […]
On Monday, April 30th and Tuesday, May 1st, I’ll be in Toronto giving my third “Intensive Contract Drafting Workshop,” as usual under the auspices of Osgoode Hall Law School’s Professional Development Program. To find out more, click here to go to the Professional Development Program’s website and click here to see the brochure.
As in the […]
Today’s issue of the New York Law Journal contains my first bi-monthly “Contract Drafting” column. It’s in the inaugural issue of a new monthly section, “GC New York.” (Click here to go to a copy of the column on the “GC New York” website; in the future, you may need to register. You may find […]
On March 9th I’ll be one of the speakers at the 2007 Business Law Symposium organized by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education. It will be held at the Sheraton at Woodbridge Place, in Iselin, New Jersey.
I’ll be conducting a 1.5 hour seminar in the afternoon on the structure of M&A contracts. I’m […]
My New York “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout” seminar took place yesterday. I haven’t yet reviewed the evaluations, but the participants appeared to have found it very useful. For my part, I enjoyed myself—giving a seminar is a good antidote to staring at the computer screen. And I remembered to mute the wireless microphone during the […]
Last Monday I posted this blog item about how St. John’s Law Review had published a new article by me and Alan Kaye entitled Revisiting the Ambiguity of “And” and “Or” in Legal Drafting. So when I discovered, courtesy of Howard Bashman via the (new) legal writer, that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals had […]
St. John’s Law Review has just published my new article, Revisiting the Ambiguity of “And” and “Or” in Legal Drafting. My co-author is Alan S. Kaye, professor of English, comparative literature, and linguistics and director of the Laboratory of Phonetic Research at California State University, Fullerton. Click here to go to a copy of the […]
Now that the holidays have come and gone, allow me to take the liberty of reminding you that my two seminars with West Legalworks are fast approaching. The seminars are entitled Contract Drafting—Language and Layout and address topics I discuss in MSCD. I’ll be in New York on February 7th and in Atlanta on March […]
If you can’t get enough of the contract dispute between Rogers Communications Inc. and Aliant Inc.—the one about the comma—you should check out this article in today’s Globe and Mail. (And see here and here for my previous posts on the subject.)
This article notes that the dispute has “ignited an international debate over the importance […]
If you roam the law blogosphere, the odds are that you know of Dennis Kennedy, a computer lawyer and legal technology consultant based in St. Louis, Missouri. Yesterday he announced on his blog the 2006 Blawggies, his “personal and highly opinionated” selection of the best law-related blogs.
In explaining his choices, Dennis says, “In general, I […]
I’m pleased to report that starting early next year, I’ll be writing a bi-monthly column for the New York Law Journal, the daily legal newspaper. It will appear in “New York GC,” a new section aimed at in-house counsel. I’ll be posting the articles on my site.
Between my blog, my occasional articles, and the next […]
I’m delighted to announce that starting early next year, I’ll be giving public seminars in the U.S. with West Legalworks.
I’ll be giving my core seminar, entitled “Contract Drafting—Language and Layout,” in New York City on February 7th and in Atlanta on March 7th. Click here to see the brochure; to register, go to this page […]
The November 6, 2006, issue of the National Law Journal contains my article on pre-closing knowledge of inaccurate representations. Go here for a copy. I apologize for the small print.
I had given it the title “M&A Contracts: Addressing Pre-closing Knowledge of Inaccurate Representations,” but of course that wasn’t catchy enough for the editorial staff, who […]
In a press release issued today, Payne Consulting Group announced that it has supplemented its Numbering Assistant® software to incorporate the enumeration schemes recommended in A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. (Go here for a copy of the press release.)
I’ve finally updated the “Software” page of this site to reflect this arrangement. In particular, […]
In August I posted this item about the dispute between Rogers Communications Inc. and Aliant Inc. (now Bell Aliant Regional Communications) regarding the role of a comma in a contract provision.
I know that this dispute has received a lot of attention, but I was nevertheless surprised to see an article about it in today’s New […]
Osgoode Hall Law School’s Professional Development Program told me yesterday that they’re no longer accepting registrations for my November 6–7 drafting workshop in Toronto—it’s sold out! They are, however, starting to accept registrations for the next one, which will be on April 30–May 1, 2007.
There are still openings for my seminars in Geneva, Switzerland. Geneva […]
The New York Law Journal recently published my article “Copyright and the Contract Drafter.” (Click here for the text of the article.)
If the subject matter sounds familiar, that’s probably because this article consists of a mash-up of my two blog items on the subject. (Here and here.) This is the first time I’ve recycled something […]
Hyatt Regency Phoenix
Westin Oaks Houston
Crowne Plaza Orlando
Omni Richmond Hotel
The Union League of Philadelphia
Cobb Galleria Centre
Millennium Hotel
Embassy Suites Portland Downtown
