Associate's Mind

  Just like the rest of the Apple product line received a sales boost from the success of the iPhone (dubbed the “halo effect), stories are popping up around Time’s cover story below: I have no clue how the article reads, it’s locked behind a paywall. Does Time still come out in print? I was actually kind [...]

  Last month I noted that Mailchimp re-wrote their terms of service, mostly ditching legalese and adopting plain language, in order to better serve their users. Not to be left out, Reddit just overhauled their Privacy Policy (discussion of policy), ditching the old, off-the-shelf legalese version with a new plain language one crafted especially for Reddit (actuall [...]

  We want to present our terms like any other content that’s meant for humans, not just for other attorneys. - Valerie Danin, General Counsel for MailChimp So begins a blog post at MailChimp, in which they describe how they have modified and updated their Terms and Policies. It’s a rather disappointing, if not unexpected observation [...]

I’m still on my SSRN kick for whatever reason, deep diving into obscure law review articles whose totals reads don’t amount to one days traffic on Associate’s Mind. It’s a shame really as there are some worthwhile articles crammed in with the likes of Harry Potter and the Law or whatever. Of course, the other [...]

Unfortunately, most lawyers are lousy writers. Considering that the primary form of communication and work among and between lawyers is writing, one would think that they would be better at it. But they’re not. And polishing and honing one’s writings skills is fairly low on the list of priorities for lawyers (especially since they believe they [...]

  Over the holidays I received a review copy of Nathaniel Burney’s The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law, an outgrowth from his popular LawComic.net. Having enjoyed seeing the progress of the comic over the past year online, I was eager to get the book in my hands. It is, in a word, excellent. Criminal law is a [...]

  Below you can see the difference between winning Olympic vaults, 56 years apart: Here are two contract clauses, 56 years apart. The old one: The parties hereto do hereby stipulate and agree that it is their intention and covenant that this agreement and performance hereunder and all suits and special proceedings hereunder be construed [...]

  A review of a food book? On a blawg? Wait for the connection. The Food Traveler’s Handbook is a guide for people traveling to far-flung corners of the globe and understand that there are real people, living real lives in these other countries. There is more to be had than tourist hubs, hotels, and pre-packaged corporate [...]

  Roughly a month ago I received a review copy of Steven Stark’s Writing To Win. It’s taken this long for me to get the review up because A) I’ve been busy and B) I always fully read any book I receive and Writing To Win is long and dense – albiet in the all the best ways possible. [...]

  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, famed British Prime Minister during World War II, was not only a noted statesman, but also a gifted student of oration and history. Churchill wrote numerous pieces on history, the English language, and how to develop the skills necessary to develop a mastery of rhetoric. So gifted was Churchill that he [...]