Many lawyers tend to rely on precedents when drafting contracts. Yet, a precedent often contains vagueness and ambiguity, even when lawyers tune and tweak it for specific situations. It can be difficult to balance the ease and relative safety of precedent usage with pushes from the bench, legal educators, and an increasing number of clients, towards clear language in contracts.

This presentation explores 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.

This on-demand program was originally broadcasted as a live webinar on January 31, 2024. Total running time is 1 hour, 33 minutes.