Contract Drafting Seminar

3 units

Enrollment limit: 16. Contract drafting requires much more than knowing the legal boundaries within which parties have to operate. Lawyers also need advanced writing skills and an in-depth understanding of the functions of contract types and terms. Attention needs to be paid to incentives, risks, transaction costs, the distribution of rents, and strategic and technical aspects. The first class offers a short introduction to the writing process itself, to the economic literature on contracts, and to the literature on contract drafting, broadly defined. In the remaining weeks, there will be no classes but students will meet regularly with the instructor and write a 30-35 pages long research paper. Students can either pick a topic out of a list or choose their own topic, but have to decide by September 15th. A first 30-pages long draft (with footnotes) is due on November, 1st. There are no prerequisites for this seminar (and in particular, no prior knowledge of economics or game theory is required). (This seminar is not graded anonymously because the professor works with students on their writing projects throughout the semester.)