As a small business lawyer, I am often asked, “Do you write plain English contracts?” If I am feeling particularly snarky and I know the person well enough to be snarky, I might shoot back with “well, I don’t write contracts in Spanish, Latin, or...
Non-Compete Agreements are everywhere. Most non-competes I see are not only poorly written (a style problem) and probably unenforceable against the employee (a drafting problem). Most employers take a one-size-fits-all approach and have all employees sign the exact same non-compete. Employers wanting employees to sign...
One of the most difficult things for companies looking to have key employees, or any employees, sign a non-compete agreement is that most states have at-will employment. While at-will employment is highly beneficial in terms of labor market movement and the ability for employers to...
One aspect of dealing with creative and service-based industries, as I often do, is that many employers have a non-compete agreement for their employees. I understand the desire and sometimes the need for the agreement. But as a class of agreements, non-compete agreements are among...
Non-disclosure agreements (NDA) have a habit of driving me nuts. In this ten minute video I talk about the overuse of NDAs and how to determine if you actually need the NDA. https://youtu.be/qpIfbHRIHbo ...
This month, #Mattthelawyer was a guest on the Insights from Casetext podcast with Mike Whalen. In this podcast they talk about how lawyers can write better contracts, fulfill their clients needs through quality contracts, and use a language that everyone can understand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=431cz-V1IZ8&feature=youtu.be ...
I have another contract rant to get out of my system. I was reading through the blog of one of my favorite writers, Ken Adams, who is the author and editor of Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, which I use heavily when writing contracts. Ken...
I’ve been feeling a contract rant coming on for some time now, so it is time for me to channel my inner Dennis Miller. Recently we had an occasion to be working with a client on a business purchase. Part of the business purchase required some...
One of the things I often preach about when it comes to contracts is do not put any kind of phrase or clause that you are not prepared to enforce 100%. I bring this up because I had an opportunity to meet a business owner who...