Sandbox

The Devil’s Advocate Notes on the absurdity of office life.	For the legal eagles Common legal agreements, examined.	For malcontents Miscellany. And eggs.
Anatomies: Clause-by-clause Anatomy and nutshell guides (hit the bar on the left) to ISDA and other master trading agreements. These may be incomplete, out of date, out of touch, flippant — well, they are flippant — but will still be better value and more entertaining than that awful FT book about derivatives; Book reviews culled from twenty indolent years sounding off on Amazon; Much flippancy about plain English, buzzwords, technology, negotiation, flannel, Latin, Greek, metaphor and eggs. And Toto.	Cross Default under an ISDA: That most pointless of all Event of Default. Synthetic prime brokerage: What even is it? How is it different from natural prime brokerage? Can you iron it? Independent Amount: It’s collateral that’s mouthy. Assignment by way of security: Is it the same as a charge? Automatic Early Termination: ISDA’s crack drafting squad™’s “clever” end-run for silly insolvency regimes. What’s that all about? Netting of Payments: The ISDA clause that shouldn’t be! Set-off: Is it the same as close-out netting? Credit Support Document: Is it the same as a Credit Support Annex? (Spoiler: In America, Yes... in England, No.) ISDA Comparison: What are the differences bvetween a 1992 ISDA and a 2002 ISDA? Should I care? (Spoiler: No.) Tai Hing Cotton Mill v Liu Chong Hing Bank: A great case, fallen on hard times. But it seems to be piquing interest at the moment.	“Does Kilimanjaro rise above the Serengeti?” The question every Toto fan wants answered. (Spoiler: No.) “Tell me about Fardell v Potts”: A. P. Herbert’s famous fictional case of the reasonable woman. Is there such a thing? (Spoiler: in the eyes of the law, No.) “Tell me about Miller v Jackson”: Is cricket capable of being a nuisance? (Spoiler: it’s controversial. But, in the eyes of the law, yes.) “I’m not going to die in a ditch about it”: When to use that greatest of all negotiation climb-downs. “teldar paper” Must be some old-school Oliver Stone fans out there. Greed is, for lack of a better word ...? “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary”: But, why did you say something to the contrary? “Does Kilimanjaro rise like Olympus above the Serengeti?” More Toto fan correspondence action. “Is Mt. Olympus anywhere near the Serengeti?” Okay, Mr. Lukather, that’s enough now. It was funny the first time.
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