Avoid making common legal writing mistakes
(Original Live Webinar Date: October 6, 2020)
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Who should attend: New lawyers and experienced lawyers who draft agreements used in all kinds of transactions and want their contracts to be clear and concise while still reflecting the critical terms of the deal
Learning level: All levels
As your first year contracts professor surely told you, every solicitor's nightmare is one in which their drafting earns them a permanent roasting from the bench. To prevent this unenviable result, many lawyers tend to rely on the safety of precedents, believing that un-litigated products from the past will surely pass further judicial scrutiny. Yet, by their very nature, a precedent will be tuned and tweaked for specific situations by each lawyer using it, who will often leave vagueness and ambiguity in their wake for the next lawyer to wade through.
How do we reconcile the ease and relative safety of precedent usage with recent pushes from the bench, legal educators, and an increasing number of clients, towards clear and easy-to-understand language in contracts? This webinar points out common examples of the most prevalent pitfalls of using precedents—vagueness and ambiguity—and provides helpful techniques for spotting and correcting archaic and convoluted language, built into precedents over time, that confuses judges, lawyers, and clients alike.
After taking this course you will:
- be able to understand the different types of ambiguity in contracts
- be able to identify and eliminate the common mistakes lawyers make in drafting contracts that creates vagueness and ambiguity
- learn drafting methods to avoid and reduce vagueness and ambiguity, and learn how to draft contracts with reduced legalese for clients to read and understand, while being effective to reduce the likelihood of litigation
Register for the companion course as well, Advanced Legal Writing on Tuesday, October 27, 2020.
Course Instructor
Douglas H. Peterson — Douglas H. Peterson Professional Corporation, Edmonton
Law Society of BC CPD Hours: This rebroadcast has been edited, reducing runtime. A bonus presentation is included to ensure you receive the same or more CPD hours as the original course. |
CPD Hours |
Ethics* Hours |
Watch Vagueness and Ambiguity in Contracts ONLY |
2.50 |
0.0 |
Watch Vagueness and Ambiguity in Contracts and bonus video Managing Anxiety in a Time of Uncertainty |
3.50 |
1.0 |
*"Ethics" refers to professional responsibility and ethics, client care and relations, and/or practice management credit
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Reduced Pricing To support you during COVID-19, CLEBC is offering reduced pricing for courses.
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Jump Start 2021 |
EARLY BIRD Register by Feb. 8/21 |
Regular Price After Feb. 8/21 |
Rebroadcast |
$205 $185 |
$299 $205 |
Rebroadcast Articled Student |
$149.50 $102.50 |
$149.50 $102.50 |
Experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19? You may be eligible for further reductions in our course prices. Please contact Customer Service for more information.
Registration includes an electronic copy of the reference materials.
Please note: The CPD hours of the rebroadcast will either meet or exceed the CPD hours of the original live webinar course.
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CLEBC Program Coordinator
Jessica Hodgins
jhodgins@cle.bc.ca