I’m a relative latecomer to LinkedIn; I started posting regularly only a couple of years ago. I’ve struggled with LinkedIn, but I think I now understand, finally, what’s expected of me. Much of the conversation on LinkedIn is of a personal nature, involving people’s own experiences, plans, and hopes. But because LinkedIn is designed to address career and business needs … Read More
This is from a message I received this weekend from a reader: I see dozens of postings for remote contract attorney positions, but they are looking for people with years of experience focused on contracts, especially IP and technology. In companies with small in-house legal teams, attorneys have to multitask, so they won’t have that concentrated contracts experience. And with … Read More
When it comes to skills relevant to business, I’m good at one thing and pretty terrible at the rest. Kevin Miller, LegalSifter’s CEO, is good at a whole bunch of stuff; I salute him. What the heck, this week he even did this post, entitled What We Mean When We Talk About Our Expertise, on LegalSifter’s blog. It mentions my … Read More
After doing these three posts about stuff you find in jurisdiction provisions, I have just one more topic to discuss, at least for now—namely this kind of thing: Each party hereby waives [or agrees not to assert] any objection that those courts represent an inconvenient forum [or inconvenient venue]. I’ve decided to call such provisions “no-objecting-to-inconvenient-forum provisions.” You could use … Read More
As you will have noticed from this blog post and this blog post, I’ve been contemplating contract provisions that seek to specify which courts would resolve disputes between the parties. In the process, I’ve observed that people appear uncertain about how concepts of venue and jurisdiction relate to this issue. Inconsistent Terminology Some provisions use just jurisdiction: Each party hereby … Read More
At the onset of the pandemic, I declined the opportunity to do an online version of my in-person Drafting Clearer Contracts seminar. But over time, we’ve all gotten used to Zoom. Yes, in-person presentations are more fun, and it’s easier for participants to engage. On the other hand, doing presentations remotely offers compelling efficiencies. And as things stand, the choice … Read More
Well lookee here, another fight involving ambiguity of the part versus the whole! This time, it involves any. And the tipster, once again, is Glenn West! I guess I have to put Glenn on retainer. (Glenn’s tip about a fight over and gave rise to this post from two months ago.) The opinion in question is by the Texas Supreme … Read More
For LegalSifter, I’ve been taking a closer look at jurisdiction provisions. I’ve decided that they represent a dose of concentrated fucked-upness on a par with governing-law provisions. The Context The first shoe dropped last year, in my post Stop Using Consent-to-Jurisdiction Provisions! It says you should stop using this sort of thing: Each party hereby submits to the jurisdiction of … Read More
The European Commission recently published for comment a new draft of the “Standard Contractual Clauses.” Yesterday Martin Clausen, Alex Hamilton, and I jointly filed comments, primarily our version of a portion of the SCCs, just to give the EU a sense of how the SCCs could be made clearer. (The comment period ends today.) Our submission is here, or you … Read More
Thanks to a hot tip from Deep Throat Glenn West, I learned about the Fifth Circuit’s opinion from earlier this year in Landmark American Insurance Co. V. Lonergan Law Firm, PLLC (here). An insurance company claimed that appellant Lonergan, a lawyer subject to a malpractice claim, had failed to “report” the claim as she was obligated to under her insurance … Read More
