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Question for Drafters from Civil-Law Countries Regarding Party Information to Include in the Introductory Clause

In this 2011 post I considered what information you should include in the introductory clause for entities formed outside the U.S. I’d now like to revisit something reader Vance Koven said in this comment, namely the following: Also remember that in the civil law tradition place of organization is less important than an entity’s siège social, which means that for … Read More

I'll Be at ABA TechShow and Inside Cousel's SuperConference

In addition to going to Chicago to give a seminar, I’ll be going there for ABA TechShow and for Inside Counsel’s SuperConference. ABA TechShow (why do the organizers insist on stating the name IN ALL CAPITALS?) runs from March 28 to March 31. I’ll be joining my friends at the ContractExpress booth, and we’ll be showcasing Koncision. I look forward … Read More

Upcoming Seminar Road Trips: Atlanta, Houston, Toronto, Chicago, Denver

The road goes on forever. Here’s where I’ll be showing up next to give my “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar: Atlanta, April 5, for West LegalEdcenter (for more information, go here) Houston, April 13, in-house seminar Toronto, April 19, for Osgoode Professional Development (for more information, go here) Chicago, May 3, for West LegalEdcenter (for more information, go here) Denver, May … Read More

Combining Unrelated Provisions in a Single Section

In the recent Fourth Circuit case of Williams v. CDP, Inc. (copy here), the court considered the following section of a contract: Deferred Compensation; Death Benefit; and Payments for Restrictive Covenants. Commencing upon the Employee’s retirement from the Employer and the termination of his employment under the Employment Agreement and continuing for the remaining Term of this Agreement, the Employee … Read More

Screwing Up Decimal Points

Via this post on the WSJ Law Blog, I learned about this Bloomberg article. Here’s the gist of it: Kai Herbert, a Switzerland-based currency trader, is suing JPMorgan for about 580,000 pounds ($920,000), his lawyers said at a trial in London this week. The original contract said Herbert’s annual pay would be 24 million rand ($3.1 million). JPMorgan blamed the … Read More

Yet More on “Termination”

I’ve blogged about termination twice previously. In this 2007 post on the AdamsDrafting blog (and in MSCD) I explain why I prefer stating that a contract terminates on a given date rather than expires on that date. And in this post from January 2012 I discuss the implications of (1) termination of this agreement, (2) this agreement terminates, and (3) this … Read More

Old Wine in a New Bottle

I recall how in the early days of word processing—when dinosaurs roamed the earth—you’d see articles in which a fiction writer would discuss word-processing technologies and techniques. But word processing long ago lost its essential mystery, except for those of us with particular needs. So fiction writers no longer offer tips on word processing. I think we’re going through something … Read More

What's the Proportion of Women to Men Among Contracts Professionals?

Of the 22 participants in my Geneva seminars, 14 were women (and still are, I expect!) and 8 were men. Given the infinitesimally small sample size, I’d be bonkers to derive any conclusions from that. But I’ve noted, albeit unscientifically, that more often than not in my other public seminars the women have outnumbered the men. And in education generally, at … Read More

A Time of Day Constitutes a Boundary Between Periods of Time

Today I’d like to advance a simple but ill-understood concept: A time of day isn’t a period of time. Instead, it’s a boundary between the period of time that comes before and the period of time that comes after. So if a contract states that a given deadline is midnight at the end of March 13, 2012, the deadline will … Read More

Posner’s Alternative to Reaching for the Dictionary

See this post on Language Log for how Judge Richard Posner did more than reach for the nearest dictionary in order to determine the meaning of “harboring.” Posner’s approach comes as a breath of fresh air, given the tendency of judges to rely unduly on dictionaries. That’s something I noted in this 2011 post, and it’s at the heart of … Read More