Ken Adams

Connect: https://www.lexblog.com/author/ken-adams/feed/
Firm/Organization: Adams Contacts Consulting LLC, Juro
Blogs: Adams on Contract Drafting, Juro

Latest Articles

Thanks to Kim Reid, general counsel at Signalta Resources Limited, a private Calgary energy company, I belatedly learned of a troubling 2019 decision by Justice Fairburn of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Andros v. Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Inc., 2019 ONCA 679, 2019 (Westlaw PDF here; the court’s PDF here). It involves interpretation of this termination […] The post An Ontario Court of Appeal Decision Involving “The Greater of A or B”: Andros v. Colliers Macaulay …
Thanks to Kim Reid, general counsel at Signalta Resources Limited, a private Calgary energy company, I belatedly learned of a troubling 2019 decision by Justice Fairburn of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Andros v. Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Inc., 2019 ONCA 679, 2019 (Westlaw PDF here; the court’s PDF here). It involves interpretation of this termination […] The post An Ontario Court of Appeal Decision Involving “The Greater of A or B”: Andros v. Colliers Macaulay …
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[Updated 1:40 a.m. 21 February 2020 to expand the analysis to address additional text in the screenshot Warren tweeted.] On 19 February, the Nation published this article by Ken Klippenstein about the Bloomberg campaign’s confidentiality agreement. The article contained this link to a copy of the confidentiality agreement. All I have to say about it is what I said on Twitter: This NDA exhibits the standard dysfunction of traditional contract drafting, in terms of what…
Yesterday I saw this tweet: Trash a person, an idea, an institution – how easy, how lazy. Nothing genius about being obnoxious, nor cool about bullying. Nothing gained except attention, a sport for truculents, a frenzy for trolls. All diminished. Hollow, shallow and nothing whatsoever to do with leadership. — Paul Gilbert (@LBCWiseCounsel) February 18, 2020 I’ll now proceed to TRASH IT! No, relax, I’m joking. Instead, I wish to get a little more specific.…
Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with Glenn West. When it comes to analysis of contract boilerplate with big-deal implications, no one comes close to Glenn. But Glenn has a mischievous side. He’ll sporadically send me stuff that he must know will irritate me; I imagine him hitting “Send” with a bit of a cackle. In the past couple of weeks he’s sent me two English newsletters about endeavours provisions. You win,…
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You can find on this page the roster of cities around the world where I’m doing “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminars in 2020. I’m look forward to the seminars: they’re fun for me and, amazingly enough, those who attend. The seminar business is a tough one: I’m in my fifteenth year of doing these seminars because participants find them valuable and recommend them to their colleagues. Outside the United States, the cities have stayed pretty much…
In my new-found zeal for dual verb structures, I’ve written about the following examples Each of those examples features two inconsistent verb structures ostensibly working together. I now offer you two verb structures that say the same thing, with the second offered as an exception to the first, namely language of discretion (may) and language of discretion (is not required to or is not obligated to): … the Corporation may at its sole option, but…
In the impeachment proceedings before the U.S. Senate yesterday, Chief Justice Roberts announced that Trump “be, and he is hereby, acquitted.” BREAKING: Chief Justice John Roberts: “It is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said Donald John Trump be, and he is hereby, acquitted of the charges in said articles.” https://t.co/cKgbkhVYFL pic.twitter.com/CSkOR6tJzI — Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) February 5, 2020 Given my recent interest in dual verb structures (see this post, this post, and…
In this November 2019 post I wrote about Princeton Excess & Surplus Lines Insurance Co. v. Hub City Enterprises, Inc., a court opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in which a judge demonstrated catastrophic misunderstanding of how the English language works. In an update to that post earlier this month, I noted that in December the appellants had filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh…