Oregon Legal Research Blog
Boleyblogs links to this article by Kenneth Adams on using Wikies for drafting contracts. I know “contract law” sounds very dull, but, if you’ll forgive the personal reminiscence, I used to be married to a most extraordinary law professor and contract law ran in his blood. Consequently I sat through days and nights listening to marvelous adventure stories on the history of contract law, of Williston and Corbin and Restatements, with side journeys by way of Gilmore and Leff and others who I never met but who lived through those law professors whose air I breathed and wine I drank for a treasured time in my life. So, to me, contract law is anything but dull. It’s also everywhere. It’s on your airline ticket; it’s on your sales receipt. It’s on your lease, your mortgage, your shrink wrap license, and it may even be there in a handshake.
The right to contract is about as sacred as the right to vote. Don’t take either lightly. But that doesn’t mean it’s all work and no fun. The writing skills needed by a lawyer to draft a great contract are as great as those of any great writer of poetry or prose, so read the great contract writers and cultivate the writing skills.
And don’t forget the wine. Today’s Oregonian Food Day has a terrific story about Madeira, which goes very well with roasted, toasted, or even fried contracts, served on the veranda with all parties. Don’t forget to invite the third-party-beneficiaries.