In an era of rapid digitization, choosing specific software for your business needs can be overwhelming. The legal technology software market is especially difficult to navigate as there is no single platform to date that provides true end-to-end contracting efficiency. More confounding still, each company’s services and capabilities are different, making it nearly impossible to compare apples to apples. 

That said, considering the various offerings of market leaders can help you determine each one’s utility when it comes to streamlining your legal workflows. This year, 44% of legal departments will add to their technology stacks, and you simply can’t afford to wait around.

Fortunately, any market leader will provide top-notch customer service to help you onboard quickly and with ease. Here’s a breakdown of some of the top players in the legal tech market pertaining specifically to contracting—a headache for many corporate legal departments today. 

LexCheck: For AI-Based Contract Review & Negotiation

Once a contract has been drafted, in-depth review and multi-party negotiations kick in. Legal teams can rely on LexCheck’s platform to handle the pre-execution, first pass contract review as it scans for any deviations and omissions from the company’s legal playbook. Within five minutes, drafts return fully redlined with context-based suggestions. Recommended changes can be implemented with the click of a button. 

Using artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), and machine-based learning, the system can also incorporate attorney-specified “If/Then” rules for customized document review. Users can easily analyze risk, insert language in the negotiation phase concerning automatic renewals, and auto-forward agreements to senior attorneys in the event of an escalation.  

Use of this legal technology software reduces playbook training costs by 99%, time spent reviewing contracts by 90%, escalations by 70%, and total time-to-execution by 33%. CIO Review called LexCheck one of the “most promising legal tech solution providers” and the Associate Corporate Counsel ranked LexCheck a “Value Champion.”     

Location: New York, NY

Founded: 2015 

Services: Contract review & negotiation

Lexis® for Microsoft® Office: For Legal Proofreading Tools

Many legal teams use MS Office, but its inability to hone in on legal terminology is a major drawback. 

Lexis for Microsoft Office is a plugin built with feedback from 850+ attorneys. This legal contract drafting software uses legal analytics, AI, and Smart Forms to help users build and proofread documents based on their questionnaire answers. Users can access content and functionality from Lexis, Practical Guidance®, and Lexis Search Advantage to integrate their research into the drafting process. 

Access to Shepard’s® Citations Service allows for much faster citation formatting review as well. This tool won 1st place in the Tables of Authority Software category by the National Law Journal.

Location: Albany, NY

Founded: 1970

Services: Legal proofreading tools and research integration

HotDocs: For Creating Templates

HotDocs assembles frequently used documents and forms into templates. The software also works for estate planning documents as it is capable of handling business transactions. Users can keep documents up to date with compliant templates, automate repetitive drafting tasks, and reduce human errors. 

HotDocs users have reported creating documents in 15 minutes with 100% accuracy. According to the company, automating 100 tasks with HotDocs can save users 69.4 days of work over the course of a year.

Location: San Diego, CA (Formerly Lindon, UT)

Founded: 1996

Services: Document customization

Avokaado: For Drag-and-Drop Contract Drafting

Avokaado is a contract lifecycle management platform for creating, managing, and collaborating on documents. Teams can access templates, insert clauses from the library, incorporate digital signatures, and store documents in a central database. 

Legal departments use Avokaado primarily to create employment documents. Templates with best practices guidelines offer collaborative drafting opportunities for prospective hires. Checklists can be created to ensure hires attach all necessary documents. Negotiation, approval, and e-signing can be completed from one dashboard. 

Drag-and-drop contract creation tools are among the platform’s strongest features, allowing companies to reduce risk, draft faster, streamline efficiency, and save money on contracts. Founder Mariana Hagström has been consistently recognized as one of the “leading women in tech.” 

Location: Tallinn, Estonia

Founded: 2016

Services: Contract drafting and management for employment contracts

Smokeball: For Contract Time-Tracking

Smokeball is a cloud-based time-tracking platform that helps legal teams manage their billable hours across email, document drafting, calendar scheduling, and mobile apps.

Smokeball comes with over 14,000 preloaded forms to increase legal document creation productivity. Related documents, letters, and signed agreements can be stored together in one central database. Onboarding and performance probability management can also help when adding team members to the schedule.

Diving in further, Smokeball can be used to share draft documents, create workflows, sync calendars, assign tasks, and manage projects without back-and-forth emails. Automation capabilities can help legal teams stay on top of deadlines. The company was among the top 100 finalists at the Chicago Innovation Awards.

Location: Chicago, IL

Founded: 2010

Services: Time tracking, workflow creation, task assignment, closing automation

Drafting effective contracts is the foundation of any successful business, and legal teams should consider the solutions above for a more productive and efficient drafting process. While each tool focuses on a specific aspect of the contract lifecycle, using them in tandem (or choosing a few based on your legal department’s specific needs) can yield positive business outcomes without eating into your budget.