[Goose]

I am amazed that high-priced legal talent cannot craft a document w/ sufficient clarity to avoid this particular disagreement.

I am sure they can and did. It is what might have been agreed to in subsequent negotiations that is often the problem. The lawyers didn't write that necessarily, or even get the chance to vet it. Sometimes, time pressure makes administrators do dumb things. If the dumb things are in writing, I can see why Dawkins is taking legal action. If it was some kind of private "understanding", things could be murky. It could also be a private "misunderstanding". Shouldn't happen, but  it does all the time.

[Goose]

I am amazed that high-priced legal talent cannot craft a document w/ sufficient clarity to avoid this particular disagreement.

I am sure they can and did. It is what might have been agreed to in subsequent negotiations that is often the problem. The lawyers didn't write that necessarily, or even get the chance to vet it. Sometimes, time pressure makes administrators do dumb things. If the dumb things are in writing, I can see why Dawkins is taking legal action. If it was some kind of private "understanding", things could be murky. It could also be a private "misunderstanding". Shouldn't happen, but  it does all the time.