Corporate & Securities Law

Seeking MSCD Testimonials

By Ken Adams

Recently the public radio stations I listen to concluded their fall fund drives. I thought I’d attempt something analogous and repeat a previous request:

The ABA is in the process of collecting testimonials (otherwise known as “blurbs”) for the second edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. If you find MSCD valuable and would like to help spread the word, I’d be pleased if you’d provide me with a testimonial. You could simply email it to me.

To get your creative juices flowing, here are three of the testimonials that have come in:

Every transactional attorney should have Ken Adams’s A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting on their bookshelves. In the same clear, concise language that contracts themselves should use, Adams explains the mechanics of contract drafting. His book should serve as the bible of contract drafting for years to come. Steven M. Davidoff, Associate Professor of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law and New York Times “Deal Professor”

A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting is an invaluable resource for the transactional attorney. The discussion of ambiguity is particularly useful, and the chapter on materiality and “material adverse change” provisions offers essential guidance for these uncertain economic times. Read the book to gain an understanding of its principles, then keep it handy when drafting or reviewing contracts. Steven H. Sholk, Director, Gibbons P.C.

Anyone tempted to believe the old stereotype of lawyers always writing mumbo-jumbo full of archaic jargon and tangled syntax should take a look at the second edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. Kenneth Adams is one lawyer who writes with clarity and linguistic insight. He has made a really serious study of how normal Standard English can be used to make contract language clear and unambiguous. His thorough understanding of grammar?in modern terms, stripped of the bugaboos?shines out from every page. Professor Geoffrey K. Pullum, Head of Linguistics & English Language, University of Edinburgh and co-author of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language

Is such a call for testimonials unseemly? Well, I haven’t been shy about asking readers of this blog for their input, and I don’t see any point in holding back now.

Full post as published by AdamsDrafting on October 26, 2008 (boomark / email).