Corporate legal teams seek innovations that will accelerate the contract approval process without exposing their company to risk. Speed and efficiency are prerequisites as legal departments experience an increasing volume of new Master Service Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Software Licensing Agreements, and Partnership Agreements each year. When industry “best practices” fail to expedite traditional redlining processes, consider how an artificial intelligence (AI) platform can automate your department’s workflow. 

Traditional “Best Practices” Won’t Speed Up Redlining

Contract negotiators traditionally perform redlining through a manual process in Microsoft Word, using tracked changes to display differences between drafts and cross-referencing with the company playbook that enumerates standard terms, provisions, and acceptable deviations. 

Multiple stakeholders participate in the contract review process as it moves from junior to senior attorneys to the  counterparty and back again. Revisions accumulate with each step in the process, and reviewers often struggle to understand the reasoning behind revision suggestions. As a result, reviewers frequently conduct research to establish context and email back-and-forth with the counterparty to ask clarifying questions—these processes, while necessary, require more time. 

The traditional contract review process can lead to disorganization, delays, and poor version control for agreements. As a result, this approach is not only time-consuming but prone to human error and oversight. Even with best practices, including company playbooks covering key provisions and digitized documents for research, contract redlining needs a 21st Century update.

Automated Contract Redlining and Risk Analysis with LexCheck

LexCheck is a Value Champion Award-winning solution designed to complete much of the heavy lifting in contract redlining by combining AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies to offer an automated contract review and negotiation solution for corporate legal departments and procurement teams.

Automated Contract Redlining

Legal teams simply add their digital playbooks and sample agreements to the platform. When a new agreement is emailed or uploaded for review, the AI compares it with the playbook and past contracts and offers context-based revision suggestions that adhere to company standards. Traditionally, this process could take days for a skilled attorney to complete. LexCheck’s AI can complete the task and ensure favorable negotiation positions in less than five minutes.

Contract Risk Analysis

In addition to automated contract redlining, the AI enables legal teams to analyze contract risk and flag provisions as low, medium, or high risk. Provisions marked “high risk” will require attorney intervention, whereas clauses designated “medium” or “low risk” can utilize AI-generated revision suggestions to narrow negotiations and push contracts through to completion without legal escalation. 

LexCheck automates routine contract review and negotiation traditionally completed by contract specialists and attorneys. Implementing LexCheck’s AI-powered solution enables legal departments to better allocate resources, ensuring the company’s legal team can focus on higher-value tasks. 

Successful implementation of an automated contract redlining solution requires executive leadership, the development of appropriate risk profiles, and a robust AI Digital Playbook. However, the payoff is well worth the initial effort, with up to 80% potential cost savings according to a case study conducted by Legal Evolution.