AdamsDrafting
This blawg offers tips on contract drafting as well as updates on the blawgger's speaking engagements.
Author: Ken Adams is a consultant to companies seeking to improve their contract drafting, teaches a contract drafting class at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and is the author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, published by the ABA.
Blawg Related Categories: Contracts • University of Pennsylvania • Consultant • Law Professor
Recent Posts from AdamsDrafting
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Response to a Young Traditionalist
Hot on the heels of Venkat Balasubramani’s Twitter update reminding me of all those I have yet to convince came a message from one of the unconvinced. The individual in question had watched my first…
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Contract Drafting as a “Niche” Subject
Twitter has become a low-key part of my public profile (my Twitter ID is @AdamsDrafting). Links to my new blog posts go out automatically on Twitter; I indulge in the occasional bit of flagrant self-promotion,…
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“Because” and Causation Issues in Contracts
Thanks to reader Steven Sholk, I learned that the U.S. Supreme Court recently considered the “ordinary meaning” of the words because of. Here’s how the CCH Workday blog described the issue: Construing this critical preposition…
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Training Your “Apprentices” in Contract Drafting
You can find plenty of discussion online, at Above the Law and elsewhere, of the new “apprenticeship” model of first-year-associatedom at a handful of law firms. I suggest that such firms have a choice: either…
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“Forthwith”—A Quaint Archaism
Methinks forthwith has as a fusty, moldy air about it. I wasn’t surprised to see it included, along with the likes of hither and mayhap, in this list of quaintly archaic words. But lo and…
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Questionable Defense of the Month: “I Signed the Contract in the Wrong Place”
Today the Law Shucks blog posted this item about a former IBM executive, David L. Johnson, who is claiming that his noncompetition agreement with IBM is unenforceable. One element of his defense is that he signed…
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“Obligate” v. “Oblige”
In this comment to a previous post, reader Mark Anderson expressed a preference for saying that parties are obliged to do something, rather than obligated. He suggested that use of the verb obligate is the…
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A Contract-Language French-English “False Friend”
In the course of considering, for purposes of today’s post on time is of the essence, how contracts are drafted in Quebec, I came across an oddity of the sort that I wouldn’t have expected…
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Enforceability of “Time Is of the Essence” Provisions in Civil-Law Jurisdictions
At the 2008 ABA annual meeting I appeared on a panel with Kevin Kyte, partner at the Montreal office of Stikeman Elliott. Kevin’s topic was things to bear in mind when drafting contracts governed by…
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“Represents, Warrants, Covenants and Agrees”
I received the following cry of despair from a Canadian reader: I’m preparing a partnership agreement and have been given precedent to work with. Using MSCD, I have spent some time trying to rework the…