Have you ever wanted an experienced lawyer to translate some of that legalese you see in contracts? You know the language that makes things seem complicated? Well, that is what our new "Contracts in the Wild" video series is about. We are going to look at actual contract terms...
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...
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 recently had an interesting meeting with a potential client. This gentleman was preparing to set up two businesses with partners that were family members. Family partnerships and family businesses are tricky. I often mention that if you are planning to go into business with family, there are a...
What happens if business partners need to split? What if they need to sell? How can partners maintain control of a company as people get married, divorced, or pass away? These are serious questions that are a reality for many business partnerships. Before we jump...
One of the most important functions of any contract is identifying and managing risk. Most people prefer to avoid confrontation. With conflict avoidance comes a reluctance to address what could go wrong that could possibly ruin a relationship. But, identifying and managing the risk is...
One of the things I hate most about contracts is legalese. I have few other videos about legalese which you can see here, here, and here. But one of the categories of legalese is the words like "herein" and similar words that no one uses outside...
One of my clients Colleen Gratzer hosts a podcast called Design Domination. Colleen asked me to help explain some legal matters related to design and the creative business. You can listen to our conversation or read the transcript (if that is your thing). Also, if you are in the...