Q: Phrasing for agreement demand

A: There are a few key reasons why legal demands or document requests often use broad, inclusive language like "any, all, every, etc." rather than only requesting specific documents:

1. Ensuring comprehensiveness: By requesting "any and all" documents related to an employment or contractual relationship, the requesting party seeks to obtain a comprehensive set of relevant documents. This broad phrasing helps ensure that no potentially relevant document is overlooked or withheld, even if it isn't the main employment contract or agreement.

2. Uncovering additional relevant documents: Employment or contractual relationships may involve more than just a single agreement. There could be amendments, addendums, side letters, memoranda of understanding, email exchanges, or other documents that shed light on the nature and terms of the relationship. The broad phrasing aims to capture all of these.

3. Avoiding narrow interpretation: If the request is too narrow or specific, the responding party might interpret it in an overly literal way and only provide the bare minimum, potentially leaving out crucial context or related documents.

4. Shifting the burden: By using broad language, the requesting party shifts the burden to the responding party to thoroughly search for and provide all relevant documents, rather than only looking for a single specific agreement.

5. Uncovering inconsistencies or undisclosed details: Having a wider net of "any and all" documents related to the relationship may help uncover details, obligations or inconsistencies that wouldn't be apparent from the main agreement alone.

That said, document requests should still be reasonably targeted and not overly broad to the point of being unduly burdensome. But using somewhat expansive language for key issues helps ensure critical documents are captured and provides useful flexibility. The specific phrasing can then be negotiated between parties if needed.