Primary Logo Black
Log In
  • ON-DEMAND

Best Practices for Drafting Defensible Liability Releases (On-Demand)

General Credits:
Original Date Of Course:

$179.00

Course Description

The course will cover how effectively to draft a liability release or other liability limitation, based on contract law principles. The course will address different types of contractual risk shifting provisions and how the courts balance freedom of contact principles with public policy concerns that may affect contract enforceability. The course will also address common drafting mistakes and choice-of-law and choice-of-forum issues.

Principles

  • Enforceability Begins with Assent
  • Clarity is the Foundation of Enforceability
  • Freedom of Contract Has Important Limits
  • Effective Drafting Requires Both Legal Precision and Strategic Planning

Syllabus

  1. Core legal principles governing liability limitation enforceability
  2. Has the party asserting a claim actually agreed to the risk-allocation provision?
  3. Freedom of contract
  4. Different types of risk-shifting provisions
  5. Public policy limits on freedom of contract and risk allocation
  6. Other public policy concerns
  7. Risk allocation under the Uniform Commercial Code
  8. Drafting for clarity, scope, and real-world use
  9. Other types of risk-allocation
  10. Disclaimers of duty (especially fiduciary duty)

Credit Details

Course Type

Course Instructor

Edwin E. Smith, Esq., Steve Weise, Esq.
Original Date Of Course

General Credits

1.5
Edwin E. Smith, Esq.
Edwin E. Smith, Esq.
Edwin E. Smith, Esq. is a senior consultant at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP specializing in general commercial and insolvency law, with extensive teaching experience in secured transactions and trade finance at Boston University Law School, Harvard Law School, Northeastern University Law School, and Suffolk Law School. As a Uniform Law Commissioner for Massachusetts, he has served on numerous drafting committees for Uniform Commercial Code revisions and amendments, currently serves on the Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code, and holds leadership positions in the American Law Institute, National Bankruptcy Conference, and American College of Bankruptcy.
Learn more
Steve Weise, Esq.
Steve Weise, Esq.
Steve Weise, Esq. is a partner in the corporate department of Proskauer Rose LLP and a Lecturer in Law at UCLA Law School, where he teaches Uniform Commercial Code – Secured Transactions. He serves as a member of the Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code and the Council of the American Law Institute, and has spent three decades on UCC drafting committees, including the comprehensive revision of Article 9 and recent amendments addressing digital assets as collateral.
Learn more
Screen Shot 2023 11 07 at 1.30.57 PM