Contract clause review
Lawyers do not need a summary of a contract, they need to know which of the forty clauses differ from the position their firm already agreed. That is a comparison task with a playbook, and it is genuinely valuable.
The job on one screen
| Runs when | A contract is received for review. |
|---|---|
| Reads | The document, the clause playbook, and the acceptable fallback positions. |
| Decides | Which clauses deviate, by how much, and whether the deviation is inside a pre-agreed fallback. |
| Produces | A deviation list with both texts quoted side by side. |
| Stops when | Deviations listed. Negotiating positions are a lawyer's job. |
| Tools it needs | Document parser, playbook store, clause library. |
| Autonomy to start at | Approve. It does the work and stops before the irreversible step. |
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Run it
The routing rules
These are the exact buckets the demo above scores against. Change the wording of a ticket and you can watch the confidence move.
| Bucket | Signals it looks for | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Liability and indemnity | indemnify, liability, without limitation, consequential, uncapped, hold harmless, damages | Critical flag with both texts quoted. Uncapped liability is the clause that ends companies, and it always goes to a senior reviewer. |
| Data and privacy | personal data, processed, residency, subprocessor, gdpr, transfer, retention, united states | Critical flag. Processing location and subprocessor terms carry regulatory consequences beyond the contract. |
| Term and termination | terminate, convenience, notice, renewal, expiry, extend, cure period | Standard flag against the playbook position, with the fallback shown if one is pre-agreed. |
| Commercial terms | payment, net 30, net 60, net 90, invoice, price, increase, cpi | Standard flag. Payment terms and price mechanics are negotiable and usually have an agreed fallback. |
| Below the bar | no clear signal | Anything that does not match a playbook category goes to a lawyer unreviewed. A clause the agent has never seen is exactly the one that matters. |
Where this one goes wrong
Missing what is absent
The most dangerous clause is the one that is not there. Compare against the playbook checklist, not only the text present.
Paraphrasing legal text
Quote both versions verbatim. A paraphrase of a contractual obligation is not a contractual obligation.
Confidentiality
Contracts under review are confidential. This is a strong argument for on-device or in-tenancy processing.
How you would know it is working
| Measure | Why that one |
|---|---|
| Deviations found against a lawyer's own review | Sample and compare. Below 90% recall is not usable. |
| Review time per contract | The saving, often hours to minutes for the first pass. |
| Missed critical clauses | Must be zero, and every occurrence becomes a playbook rule. |
Earning more rope
| Assist | Produce the deviation list for a lawyer. |
| Approve | Deviation list plus suggested fallback language from the playbook. Right level. |
| Auto | Never auto-accept or auto-sign. Signature authority is a human power, legally as well as practically. |
Compare against a playbook, do not summarize. The summary is the deliverable nobody needs, and the comparison is the one that saves a day per contract.
Related: Regulation tracking · Document extraction · Proposal drafts · all agent jobs · Agent Lab home
Related: Regulation tracking · Document extraction · Proposal drafts · all agent jobs · Agent Lab home
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