Program Details
2025-04-11 13:00:00
Over 1,000+ webinars
Course Overview
2025-04-11 13:00:00
2h CLE Credits
Intermediate
2
1:00 pm - 1:20 pm ESTThis session establishes core principles for drafting enforceable contracts, emphasizing clarity, plain English, and writing for audiences unfamiliar with the transaction. Participants will learn why freedom of contract has limitations and how courts view poorly drafted agreements.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. Smith 1:20 pm - 1:40 pm ESTExplore the risks of over-negotiation and why having bargaining power doesn’t mean using all of it. The DoorDash arbitration case demonstrates how standard clauses can backfire when not thoughtfully considered.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. Smith 1:40 pm - 2:00 pm ESTLearn essential requirements for forming valid electronic contracts, including prominence and noticeability standards. This session covers 25 years of case law from Specht to the new Restatement of Consumer Contracts.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. Smith 2:00 pm - 2:10 pm ESTA short intermission allowing participants to refresh before continuing with key contract provisions and best practices.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. Smith 2:10 pm - 2:30 pm ESTDeep dive into avoiding ambiguity, proper use of definitions, grammar pitfalls, and the problems with ALL CAPS and redundancy. Participants will learn how sentence structure, modifiers, and comma placement can dramatically affect contract interpretation.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. Smith 2:30 pm - 2:45 pm ESTExamine commonly misunderstood contract terms including ‘arising’ versus ‘relating,’ ‘shall’ versus present tense, and ‘best efforts’ standards. This session clarifies how courts interpret these critical terms differently than drafters often intend.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. Smith 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm ESTNavigate choice of law and forum clauses, indemnity provisions, consequential damages exclusions, and non-reliance clauses. Learn from cases like G Companies how fundamental policy exceptions can override contractual choices.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. Smith 3:00 pm - 3:10 pm ESTCover practical enforcement considerations including statutes of limitations, jury waivers, force majeure, notice requirements, and severability clauses. This closing session provides key takeaways for drafting enforceable, strategically sound agreements.
Steven O. Weise.Edwin E. SmithSteve Weise is a partner practicing a wide range of commercial law, with particular focus on matters arising under the Uniform Commercial Code, especially Article 9 – Secured Transactions. He is a nationally recognized expert in these matters and is also authoritative on third-party opinion letters, contract law, online contracting, plain English drafting, and boilerplate.
Edwin E. Smith is a Senior Consultant at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, based in the firm’s Boston and New York offices, where he concentrates his practice in commercial law, debt financing, structured financing, workouts, bankruptcies, and international transactions. Ed is particularly knowledgeable on commercial law and insolvency matters, both domestic and cross-border, and his representations have included major bankruptcies such as Refco, Lehman, the City of Detroit, and PG&E. Chambers USA has noted he “probably knows as much about UCC as anybody in the country.”
Steve Weise is a partner practicing a wide range of commercial law, with particular focus on matters arising under the Uniform Commercial Code, especially Article 9 – Secured Transactions. He is a nationally recognized expert in these matters and is also authoritative on third-party opinion letters, contract law, online contracting, plain English drafting, and boilerplate.
Edwin E. Smith is a Senior Consultant at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, based in the firm’s Boston and New York offices, where he concentrates his practice in commercial law, debt financing, structured financing, workouts, bankruptcies, and international transactions. Ed is particularly knowledgeable on commercial law and insolvency matters, both domestic and cross-border, and his representations have included major bankruptcies such as Refco, Lehman, the City of Detroit, and PG&E. Chambers USA has noted he “probably knows as much about UCC as anybody in the country.”
Requirements
The Alabama State Bar MCLE Commission requires attorneys to complete 12 credits, including 1 ethics, by December 31 of each year. All credits must be reported by February 15 of the following year. A maximum of 12 credits, including 1 ethics credit, may be carried over for 1 year only.
Formats
