Adams on Contract Drafting https://www.adamsdrafting.com/ Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:27:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-icon-adamsdrafting-1-32x32.png Adams on Contract Drafting https://www.adamsdrafting.com/ 32 32 A New Kind of Syntactic Ambiguity https://www.adamsdrafting.com/a-new-kind-of-syntactic-ambiguity/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/a-new-kind-of-syntactic-ambiguity/#respond Sun, 09 Aug 2026 13:51:38 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21960 Friends, today is a special day, as I’m able to introduce to you a new kind of syntactic ambiguity. (As A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting says, “Syntactic ambiguity arises principally out of the order in which words and phrases appear and how they relate to each other grammatically.”) Well, this form of syntactic ambiguity is new to me, ... Read More

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/a-new-kind-of-syntactic-ambiguity/feed/ 0 Two Mistakes in a Contract-Drafting Textbook https://www.adamsdrafting.com/two-mistakes-in-a-contract-drafting-textbook/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/two-mistakes-in-a-contract-drafting-textbook/#respond Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:08:27 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21941 As I mentioned in this blog post, I’ve been leafing through some textbooks intended for teaching contract drafting. One of them is Tina L. Stark & Monica L. Llorente, Drafting Contracts: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do (3d ed 2024). I happened to notice two technical mistakes in that textbook relating to principles of English usage. I thought ... Read More

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/two-mistakes-in-a-contract-drafting-textbook/feed/ 0 New “Drafting Clearer Contracts” Presentation Set for 28 and 29 October 2026 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/new-drafting-clearer-contracts-presentation-set-for-28-and-29-october-2026/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/new-drafting-clearer-contracts-presentation-set-for-28-and-29-october-2026/#respond Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:06:42 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21938 I’ve just scheduled the next public Drafting Clearer Contracts presentation. It’s on 28 and 29 October 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. ET. Go here for more information. I hope to see some of you there!

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/new-drafting-clearer-contracts-presentation-set-for-28-and-29-october-2026/feed/ 0 A Feature of Defined Terms That Textbooks Get Wrong https://www.adamsdrafting.com/a-feature-of-defined-terms-that-textbooks-get-wrong/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/a-feature-of-defined-terms-that-textbooks-get-wrong/#respond Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:45:10 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21925 For an article I have to write in the next few days, I’ve been leafing through textbooks intended to be used in teaching contract drafting. I had contemplated doing reviews of one or more textbooks, but I decided I’d rather focus on how I’d approach teaching contract drafting. That’s what the new article will be about. But I noticed that ... Read More

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/a-feature-of-defined-terms-that-textbooks-get-wrong/feed/ 0 My New Article in Contracting Excellence Journal https://www.adamsdrafting.com/my-new-article-in-contracting-excellence-journal/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/my-new-article-in-contracting-excellence-journal/#respond Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:38:59 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21921 Last week Contracting Excellence Journal, a journal of World Commerce & Contracting, published my article Copy-and-Paste Contract Drafting Can Dull Your Wits or Leave You Demoralized. We Can Do Better! This article features one thought I haven’t articulated previously: That it’s demoralizing to be a copy-and-paste monkey!

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/my-new-article-in-contracting-excellence-journal/feed/ 0 Revisiting “Date” and “Day” https://www.adamsdrafting.com/revisiting-date-and-day/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/revisiting-date-and-day/#respond Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:30:08 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21919 A few days every month, I prepare videos for Drafting Clearer Contracts: On Demand, my library of videos and automated quizzes. To do that, I revisit what MSCD has to say about a given topic. Sometimes, that prompts me to rethink how I’ve approached a given issue. That’s what happened yesterday, when I revisited the discussion of day and date ... Read More

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/revisiting-date-and-day/feed/ 0 Language of Inaction? https://www.adamsdrafting.com/language-of-inaction/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/language-of-inaction/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2026 19:42:27 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21914 Crazy things are afoot in the categories of contract language. In addition to my considering creating “language of state of mind” (see this post), I’m now considering creating another new category: “language of inaction.” Consider the following sentences: In the current regime, they fall under “language of policy.” Language of policy is for stating ground rules of the contract—stuff that ... Read More

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/language-of-inaction/feed/ 5 What Do “Agreement” and “Contract” Mean? https://www.adamsdrafting.com/what-do-agreement-and-contract-mean/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/what-do-agreement-and-contract-mean/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:51:24 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21904 OK, let’s go back to basics. I noticed this passage (footnotes omitted) in the textbook Stephen L. Sepinuck & John F. Hilson, Transactional Skills: How to Structure and Document a Deal 15 (3d ed. 2022): Notice that the discussion above refers to the written document as an “agreement,” not as a “contract.” While you might encounter documents labeled as a ... Read More

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/what-do-agreement-and-contract-mean/feed/ 4 Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass (52) Starting 29 September 2026! https://www.adamsdrafting.com/drafting-clearer-contracts-masterclass-52-starting-29-september-2026/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/drafting-clearer-contracts-masterclass-52-starting-29-september-2026/#respond Thu, 09 Jul 2026 16:40:00 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21897 The next public series of Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass, series (52), starts on 29 September 2026. Go here for more information. I apologize for being slow to get it scheduled—I’ve had plenty of distractions these past three months! I keep doing Masterclass because people keep telling me they find it valuable. Masterclass participants, I invite you to tell us, on ... Read More

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]]> https://www.adamsdrafting.com/drafting-clearer-contracts-masterclass-52-starting-29-september-2026/feed/ 0 An Update on “Drafting Clearer Contracts: On Demand” https://www.adamsdrafting.com/an-update-on-drafting-clearer-contracts-on-demand/ https://www.adamsdrafting.com/an-update-on-drafting-clearer-contracts-on-demand/#respond Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:38:36 +0000 https://www.adamsdrafting.com/?p=21890 I launched Drafting Clearer Contracts: On Demand in March 2026, with 47 videos and four quizzes. Since then, I’ve done three monthly uploads of additional videos and quizzes; we’re now at 121 videos and 14 quizzes. Go here for a list. I expect to end up with 300 or more videos and who knows how many quizzes. I’m doing On ... Read More

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