Delighted to inform you that the 4th edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting has recently been published. The author, Ken Adams, is a good and longstanding friend of this blog (e.g., guest posts here and here).

It is the only authoritative guide to the building blocks of contract language, and is in widespread use throughout the legal profession. The first edition was published by the American Bar Association in 2004.

An extract from the back-cover blurb of the 4th edition:

With A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, Kenneth A. Adams has created a uniquely in-depth survey of the building blocks of contract language. First published in 2004, it offers those who draft, review, negotiate, or interpret contracts an alternative to the dysfunction of traditional contract language and the inertia and flawed conventional wisdom that perpetuate it. This manual has become a vital resource throughout the legal profession, in the United States and internationally.

This is the fourth edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. It contains almost one hundred pages of new materials addressing many topics, making it even more authoritative and essential.

This manual’s focus remains how to express contract terms in prose that is free of the archaisms, redundancies, ambiguities, and other problems that afflict traditional contract language. With exceptional analysis and an unmatched level of practical detail, Mr. Adams highlights common sources of confusion and recommends clearer and more concise alternatives. This manual is organized to facilitate easy reference, and it illustrates its analysis with numerous examples. Consult it to save time in drafting and negotiation and to reduce the risk of dispute.

You can find out more, including a podcast with the author and comments from legal professionals and academics, by heading over to Ken’s great blog Adams On Contract Drafting where he discusses (and wrestles) with contract drafting bugbears.

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Disclosure: I have no commercial relationship of any kind with the publisher or the author, and provide the above details purely for information purposes.