June 23, 2005

Only a lawyer would . . .

Sometimes I am amused by my colleagues, all of whom are wicked smart. Here is the comment made by one of the senior guys when he changed a "will" in a letter I drafted to a "should".

I want it to be unclear whether it is "should" in the normative sense or "should" in the predictive sense.

Are we all clear?

I walked out of his office with a small smile on my face. The games we lawyers play sometimes.

Posted by Random Penseur at June 23, 2005 03:44 PM
Comments

Heya lawyerman :)

This is off topic but what do you think about this ruling in Connecticut about the Supreme Court ruling 5-4 in favor of eminent domain, favoring the Pfizer corporation?
Worldchanging.com - Land rights hits home

Posted by: Oorgo at June 23, 2005 05:31 PM

Wicked smart or just wicked? (Certainly elegant.) If it were a contract, no doubt it should (normatively and predictively) also be armed with the clause that suspends the interpretive rule of ambiguities being construed against the drafter. Only a lawyer would, indeed...cheers.

Posted by: Chan S. at June 23, 2005 06:02 PM

Oh, you whacky lawyers and your knee-slapping sense of humour!!!!

I am not ashamed to admit that I don't get the joke. Would you like to hear a construction-oriented joke? Liuke the one about the guy who ordered Low-E glass instead of regular glass in his windows? It's a real scream!!!

Posted by: Mark at June 23, 2005 10:20 PM

Dare I ask how much you charge an hour to deal with this sort of thing?

;)

Posted by: Kathy at June 24, 2005 10:54 AM

I for one am all about the "wickedness"

Posted by: Wicked H at June 24, 2005 12:08 PM

I would have just thrown a thesaurus at him.

:)

xoxo

Posted by: Margi at June 24, 2005 01:14 PM

LOL Funfun. :)


By the way, my new blog is at www.confuzzled.nl Hope you come look!

Posted by: Hannah at June 25, 2005 03:24 AM

Great, now I really feel like an idiot. Can I get in on the joke, too?

Posted by: Mark at June 25, 2005 10:29 PM

I just want to know what the original sentence was just for to find out how the normative and predictive senses of "should" make a difference to that particular sentence. If you wrote "will" then you obviously meant the predictive sense. Why does your colleague want it so foggy? Can you tell us? Can ya, huh?

Posted by: Tuning Spork at June 30, 2005 12:05 AM
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