


Are M&A Lawyers Really Better Than Other Transactional Lawyers at Contract Drafting?
In a series of papers over the past decade, the three of us have studied extensively the persistence of obsolete terms in sovereign debt contracting. (e.g., here, here and here). Our interest was motivated by a puzzling observation: Transactional lawyers did not appear to reform their contract clauses promptly in response to changes in the external environment. In a market with multi-billion dollar transactions, and with some of the most elite law firms in the world, the slow pace of innovation was surprising. It was especially surprising given the conventional view that good transactional lawyers keep abreast of … Read more