On June 8, 2015, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. (NY time) I will be chairing a CLE at the NYC Bar Association, Every Contract is a Litigation Waiting to Happen. I'm proud to say that I'll be joined by two esteemed attorneys: Casey Laffey (my litigation colleague at Reed Smith) and Hon. Vincent J. Martorana (my dad and District Court Judge in Suffolk County, NY for the First and Fifth Districts). The program will deal with contracts, contract drafting, and contract interpretation. But we'll take a different approach from my usual contract-drafting courses. Instead of focusing on how to say things clearly in contracts, we'll explore what happens when contract counterparties (and their respective counsel) do battle over language in a contract. In doing so, we'll address some of the practicalities and psychology associated with contract disputes. And my co-presenters will fire their canons of construction at my ivory tower of contract-drafting principles. (See what I did there?) Here's the agenda:
- Introduction; the Goals of a Contract
- Some Contract-Interpretation Principles
- Common Sources of Contract Language Dispute
- Practical Concerns
- Telling the Judge What to Do: Interpretive Boilerplate
- Examples
- Concluding Tips; Q&A
You can go here to register. For those of you in the New York area, hope to see you there!
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
