Syntactic ambiguity is ambiguity that arises due to uncertainty regarding which part of a phrase a given word modifies, or which part of a sentence a given phrase modifies. Syntactic ambiguity can arise in any kind of writing, and examples occurring outside of contracts can be instructive for contract drafters. Reader Sean Gajewski, a third-year student at Hofstra University School … Read More
Today’s post at Attorney at Work is “Give Final Documents a Good Scrubbing,” by Deborah Savadra. It’s a useful reminder of the simple steps you can take to avoid creating problems for yourself by unwittingly sending the other side a draft that discloses information you’d rather not have disclosed. Information doesn’t have to constitute a state secret in order for … Read More
The ABA Journal is looking for suggestions as to which blogs to include in the 2011 “Blawg 100″—its list of “the 100 best legal blogs.” That prompted me to ponder what I think of “best” lists of this sort. The Blawg 100 has prompted a measure of skepticism and harrumphing in the blogosphere. Of course, I might be decidedly biased, … Read More
I’d appreciate your thoughts on the phrase “by wire transfer of immediately available funds”. Are wire-transfer funds always immediately available? If not, why not? Is it a function of the person paying or the person receiving? What, if anything, does the Uniform Commercial Code have to say? How do things work outside the U.S.? Would some other formulation be clearer?
The opinion just issued by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Anderson v. Hess Corporation (go here for a PDF copy) primarily concerns the phrase “drilling or reworking operations”. It occurs several times in the five mineral leases at issue. Does “drilling” constitute a noun, or is it an adjective modifying “operations”? In other words, the question posed was, … Read More
I’m gearing up for the fall seminar season. Here are the public “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminars I’ll be giving through the end of the year: Boston, MA, September 15 (Hey, Bingham associates—it’s being held in your building!) Minneapolis, MN, October 12 Washington, D.C., October 25 New York, NY, November 2 Toronto, ON, November 16 Santa Clara, CA, December 8 I … Read More
In its recent opinion in Kevin M. Ehringer Enterprises, Inc. v. McData Services Corp. (go here for a PDF copy), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a jury award and granted a defendant’s motion for a judgment as a matter of law—the defendant’s “best efforts” promise wasn’t an enforceable promise and so couldn’t form the basis of a fraudulent-inducement … Read More
In its recent opinion in Mosser Construction, Inc. v. Travelers Indemnity Co. (go here for a PDF copy), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals devotes several pages to the meaning of “subcontractor” for purposes of an insurance policy. Why? Because “subcontractor” exhibits lexical ambiguity: Is any supplier to the contractor a subcontractor, or is something more required? I’ll leave you … Read More
Last week Thomson Reuters announced the launch of Westlaw Form Builder: Westlaw Form Builder has been launched—an online document assembly tool that helps attorneys find, assemble and review legal forms with greater speed and accuracy. Attorneys can access more than 20,000 forms anytime and anywhere they have an Internet connection. Forms are customizable, continually updated by Westlaw editors, and have … Read More
Paul Lippe, the driving force behind Legal OnRamp, writes a blog for the ABA Journal. The most recent post, available here, is entitled “What Aspects of Legal Services Are Most Likely to Get Standardized?” Here’s the bit that caught my eye: Standardization is not the same as “commoditization,” that great bugaboo of lawyers (I’m not sure what ‘commoditization” is, and … Read More
