A few years ago now, a client asked me to review a contract. Not being a lawyer, I am not at all qualified to to that, but I O So Professionally told him that our firm would take care of it.
So a few days leter, I sat with my boss, who is a lawyer, and we edited a three-page contract. Folks, words are powerful magic. Contract law is definitely related to why there is such a strong tradition of words as powerful, of names having magic, of how Terry Pratchett wrote of fierce and fearsome and funny creatures who harbor a mortal dread of lawyers, for against lawyers there is seemingly no defense.
Move two words here, delete a word there, add a single letter, and millions of dollars are gained or lost. And there's no instruction manual for this, you just... do it. Make it up as you go. Roll the words around inside of you, feeling the possibilities, finding the paths along which reality can branch, and with careful simplicity, choose the right path. It's all perfectly clear. Deep magic.
Oh, yeah, and make sure that someone who actually went to law school, and who has a lot of experience in the field covered by your contract, reviews everything very, very carefully.
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