conversation snippet

[cellio]

This week we finally got some routine legal documents in order. Snippet from today's review meeting:

Me: Just out of curiosity, this place in the boilerplate where you cite [a particular act], don't you have the name wrong? It doesn't really matter, I don't think, because this is in a section heading and you have it right down in the legally-binding paragraphs below, but just checking...?

Lawyer: I never noticed that bug in our template before.

Me: My work here is done. :-)

My professional training follows me everywhere, I tell you!

(Medical power-of-attorney, and it's HIPAA, not HIPPA.)

Comments

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

That typo is extremely common. I can live with it, though, because this Act actually has a descriptive name (Health Information Portability and Accessibility Act, IIRC) rather than one of those trendy forced brand-names like the USA P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, or the No Child Left Behind Act, or the Comprehensive Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).

[cellio]

I don't particularly mind it; I just wanted to make sure the typo would have no detrimental effect in a legal document. Which I didn't think it would, but safer to ask than assume, because case law is not for the novice to comprehend. :-) (Nor, probably, statutory law, but this non-expert perceives case law to be even more incomprehensible.)