Redlining legal documents is an artform that takes time and skill to master. But with top legal talent in short supply these days, it can be a challenge to ensure every contract receives the eagle eye review and attention it deserves. Training staff members on what to look for when redlining a legal document is a start, but applying automation technology to the process can be an entirely transformative initiative that yields markedly improved results.
A recent poll found that 96% of legal teams still use MS Word or Google Docs to redline a contract. However, it’s an old-fashioned process that still relies heavily on manual efforts such as side-by-side document comparisons, looking up contextual references, catching errors with the naked eye, cross-referencing drafts with templates to ensure all clauses are included, and combing through paragraphs line-by-line. Though redlining is exceedingly important, the job feels menial and the process is painstakingly slow.
Legal redlining is an essential part of conducting business today. Teams tasked with this duty need to look for a number of issues when redlining agreements, including:
Satisfying these criteria paves the way for fewer mistakes being made while increasing the likelihood of clients signing.
Redlining is a collaborative process that hinges on teams working together to determine whether contract terms are in line with company capabilities and profitability. Presumably, the more errors that are caught and addressed, the better the negotiation process will be. But sometimes concessions must be made to arrive at a mutual agreement.
It’s vital that all parties work on the same version of the agreement, with revisions tracked and stored properly. It should be immediately clear who made a redline, when, and why. When manual processes are used, a number of simple errors can lead to frustration and loss, including:
In theory, the goal is to reach mutual understanding without delay, but that isn’t always possible with manual redlining. These difficulties lead to longer sales cycles, lost business, and lost trust. What’s more, they can make the difference between earning a profit or losing it.
With technology infiltrating every aspect of business in increasingly novel ways, forward-thinking legal teams are now choosing to redline contracts the smart way—with automation technology that ensures contract playbook compliance, best practices, and consistent enforcement of negotiation best practices in every draft.
With LexCheck’s contract review and negotiation solution, for example, users simply:
While traditional redlining is a manual, time-consuming process fraught with errors, automated contract review software like LexCheck can help legal teams free up innumerable hours by intelligently reviewing and redlining agreements in minutes, not hours or days.
Human judgment and skill are, and always will be, necessary factors when redlining legal documents such as contracts. However, corporate legal departments find they have more time to think critically about contracts when the baseline work is automated for them. For example:
Automated redlining is the future of contract negotiation lawyers envisioned just twenty years ago. The legal sphere and the technology supporting it can only move forward from here, and the futures of both are connected in ways we have yet to see or understand. Solutions like LexCheck, however, are helping legal teams bridge those important gaps in the meantime.
If you’re ready to experience the LexCheck difference, contact us at sales@lexcheck.com or request a demo to see how much easier redlining legal documents can be.