Why the increasing use of boilerplate is eroding our rights Boilerplate—the fine-print terms and conditions that we become subject to when we click "I agree" online, rent an apartment, enter an employment contract, sign up for a cellphone carrier, or buy travel tickets—pervades all aspects of our modern lives. On a daily basis, most of us accept boilerplate provisions without realizing that should a dispute arise about a purchased good or service, the nonnegotiable boilerplate terms can deprive us of our right to jury trial and relieve providers of responsibility for harm. Boilerplate is the first comprehensive treatment of the problems posed by the increasing use of these terms, demonstrating how their use has degraded traditional notions of consent, agreement, and contract, and sacrificed core rights whose loss threatens the democratic order. Margaret Jane Radin examines attempts to justify the use of boilerplate provisions by claiming either that recipients freely consent to them or that economic efficiency demands them, and she finds these justifications wanting. She argues, moreover, that our courts, legislatures, and regulatory agencies have fallen short in their evaluation and oversight of the use of boilerplate clauses. To improve legal evaluation of boilerplate, Radin offers a new analytical framework, one that takes into account the nature of the rights affected, the quality of the recipient's consent, and the extent of the use of these terms. Radin goes on to offer possibilities for new methods of boilerplate evaluation and control, among them the bold suggestion that tort law rather than contract law provides a preferable analysis for some boilerplate schemes. She concludes by discussing positive steps that NGOs, legislators, regulators, courts, and scholars could take to bring about better practices.

This resource serves to educate lawyers and business professionals on how to draft the many types of "boilerplate" provisions, a legal term that refers to the standardized, one-size-fits-all provisions of a contract. Each chapter tackles one of 20 provisions and analyzes why it is important, the key legal and business issues raised, and how to draft the provision to suit a particular transaction. Such analysis not only helps readers better understand how to draft these provisions in their contracts, but also helps them better understand the other party's process.

Boilerplate, the fine print of standard contracts, is more prevalent than ever in commercial trade and in electronic commerce. But what is in it, beyond legal technicalities? Why is it so hard to read and why is it often so one-sided? Who writes it, who reads it, and what effect does it have? The studies in this volume question whether boilerplate is true contract. Does it resemble a statute? Is it a species of property? Should we think of it as a feature of the product we buy? Does competition improve boilerplate? Looking at the empirical reality in which various boilerplates operate, leading private law experts reveal subtle and previously unrecognized ways in which boilerplate clauses encourage information flow, but also reduce it; how new boilerplate terms are produced, and how innovation in boilerplate is stifled; how negotiation happens in the shadow of boilerplate, and how it is subdued. They offer a new explanation as to why boilerplate is often so one-sided. With emphasis on empiricism and economic thinking, this volume provides a more nuanced understanding of the 'DNA' of market contracts, the boilerplate terms.

"Boilerplate language in contracts tends to stick around long after its origins and purpose have been forgotten. Usually there are no serious repercussions, but sometimes it can cause unexpected problems. Such was the case with the obscure pari passu clause in cross-border sovereign debt contracts, when a Belgian court's novel judicial interpretation in Elliott Associates v. Peru rattled international finance by forcing a defaulting sovereign - for one of the first times in the market's centuries-long history - to repay its foreign creditors despite their refusal to enter into a restructuring agreement. Though neither party wanted this outcome, the vast majority of contracts subsequently issued demonstrate virtually no attempt to clarify the imprecise language of the clause. Using this case as a launching pad to explore the broader issue of 'stickiness' of contract boilerplate, Mitu Gulati and Robert E. Scott have sifted through more than one thousand sovereign debt contracts - dating back to the nineteenth century - and interviewed hundreds of practitioners to show that the problem actually lies in the nature of the modern corporate law firm. The financial pressure on large firms to maintain a high volume of transactions contributes to an array of problems that deter innovation and that are largely hidden from the individual lawyer tasked with drafting contracts. With the near certainty of massive sovereign debt structuring in Europe, The Three and a Half Minute Transaction speaks to critical issues facing the industry and has broader implications for contract design that will ensure it remains relevant to our understanding of legal practice long after the debt crisis has subsided"--Unedited summary from book jacket.

Public Relations Writing: Principles in Practice is a comprehensive core text that guides students from the most basic foundations of public relations writing-research, planning, ethics, organizational culture, law, and design-through the production of actual, effective public relations materials. Now published by Sage Publications, this edition has been updated throughout to include current events and Web addresses. Core content includes such subject areas as news and features, writing for print and broadcast, persuasive communications, newsletters and employee communication, annual reports, brochures, direct mail, global communication and the Internet.

This concise guide to the most commonly used boilerplate clauses for commercial contracts provides a detailed analytical commentary on each clause, together with advice on its practical application.The work takes account of recent case law where applicable, and has been updated to provide new sections on competition law, consumer law and intellectual property rights, and new case law under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.* Acts as a practical drafting tool for practitioners drafting contracts* A single source of the most commonly-used boilerplate clauses* The clauses are interspersed with concise commentary, guiding the reader on when to use the clause and points to note* Includes a CD-ROM with all the clauses in a ready-to-use format

From “one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking writers of natural history” (The Seattle Times), a collection of enduring essays that form a bestiary of wondrous creatures and a gallery of the human faces that peer at them. The Boilerplate Rhino brings together twenty-six of David Quammen’s most thoughtful and engaging essays from his column for Outside magazine, gifting readers with an irrepressible assortment of ideas to explore, conundrums to contemplate, and wondrous creatures to behold. In lucid, penetrating, and often quirkily idiosyncratic prose, David Quammen takes his readers with him as he explores the world. His travels lead him to rattlesnake handlers in Texas; a lizard specialist in Baja; the dinosaur museum in Jordan, Montana; and halfway across Indonesia in search of the perfect Durian fruit. He ponders the history of nutmeg in the southern Moluccas, meditates on bioluminescent beetles while soaking in the waters of the Amazon, and delivers “The Dope on Eggs” from a chicken ranch near his hometown in Montana. Quammen's travels are always jumping-off points to explore the rich and sometimes horrifying tension between humankind and the natural world, in all its complexity and ambivalence. The result is another irrepressible assortment of ideas to explore, conundrums to contemplate, and wondrous creatures to behold.