Blog

In Contract Drafting, “Grunt Work” Isn’t a Valuable Training Tool

[Update 13 May 2017: I should make it clear that I’m not suggesting that automated contract drafting is by itself enough to make one an informed drafter. Instead, my point is that comparing the two means of generating the bulk of contract text, automated contract drafting is a better vehicle for training than is copy-and-pasting. But by itself it’s not … Read More

The First Question to Ask About My Consulting Services

Even if you’re aware of what I do, I suspect you haven’t considered whether to hire me to redo your template contracts. Allow me to make that easier by breaking down for you the factors to bear in mind. Let’s think of them as questions. What’s the first question? Well, I suggest it shouldn’t be, “Can Adams improve our templates?” Unless your … Read More

MSCD as a Credential?

Here’s an email I received from a reader: I was interviewing for a new job 6 months ago and mentioned I am a big MSCD fan. The GC said “That is the most impressive thing you could have said.” Needless to say, I got the job. THANK YOU! I take two things from that. First, that MSCD is an established … Read More

Four Contract-Drafting Axioms

To coin a phrase, We hold these truths to be self-evident: It’s preferable to draft contracts consistent with a set of guidelines for contract language, as opposed to relying on conventional wisdom, improvising, or simply copying. That’s why I wrote MSCD. It’s the only such set of guidelines, and with each new edition it becomes more entrenched. I’d be surprised … Read More

What Has to Come Next

The fourth edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting is now in production. That side of my work will certainly continue, but the bulk of it is done. So even though you won’t see the fourth edition for another four months, I’m already focusing on what comes next. Allow me to go out on a limb: To make … Read More

Using MSCD in Law School

At my recent “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar in Portland, Oregon, I met David Hill. Dave teaches contract drafting at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, so we chatted about what he does. By email, he followed up with some thoughts about how he uses A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting as part of his course: I designed … Read More

On Reviewing a Contract

[Go here for a copy of Reviewing Business Contracts: What to Look For and How to Look for It, ACC Docket (20 Dec. 2021) (with Michael F. Fleming)] Recently I received the following email: I have been following your blog for a long time and your insights are really helpful for young lawyers. I am a young lawyer from India … Read More

I Sound Off on Georgia’s Campus-Carry Bill

Go here for a clip run on WABE 90.1 FM, the Atlanta public radio station, and the related article. They’re about lines 37 and 38 of Georgia’s HB 280, a bill that would allow guns on campus at Georgia’s public colleges and universities. You hear me for a big ten seconds. Here’s the language at issue: Not apply to faculty, staff, … Read More

Thoughts on Contract Interpretation

Go here for an article I posted on LinkedIn today, Be Afraid of Contract Interpretation. Every so often I post a particularly general piece on LinkedIn instead of on this blog, with the notion that something on LinkedIn might catch the attention of people who would never have heard of me otherwise. What I have to say on LinkedIn will generally … Read More