AI for Contract Review: Cut Review Time by 60% Without Cutting Quality
Your team reviews hundreds of contracts per year. NDAs. Service agreements. Purchase orders. Employment contracts. Vendor agreements. Partnership deals.
Each one needs attention. Each clause needs checking. Every deviation from standard needs flagging.
The work is essential. It’s also repetitive. And it never stops.
AI changes this. It handles the first pass automatically. It reads every line. It flags what matters. It explains what changed.
Your lawyers review what needs human judgment. They skip what doesn’t. The contracts get better. The work goes faster.
The Contract Review Problem
Contract review isn’t complicated. It’s just time-consuming.
You need to:
- Find every important clause (duration, liability, termination, confidentiality, payment terms)
- Check each one against your standards
- Flag anything unusual
- Spot what’s missing
- Compare versions when there are redlines
- Explain it all to stakeholders who don’t speak legal
One contract? Maybe 30-60 minutes. Ten contracts? Half your week. A hundred contracts? Your team is drowning.
Associates spend hours on routine reviews. Partners get pulled into standard contracts because there’s a backlog. Business deals wait on legal approval.
Not because the work is hard. Because there’s too much of it.
What AI Does for Contract Review
AI reads contracts like a lawyer with perfect memory and infinite time. It doesn’t get tired. It doesn’t miss page 47. It never says “close enough.”
Here’s what actually happens:
1. Automatic Clause Extraction
The AI reads the entire contract. It finds every key clause. It pulls them out and organizes them.
You see:
- Contract duration: 3 years, auto-renewal
- Termination: 90 days written notice
- Liability cap: 12 months of fees
- Jurisdiction: Delaware courts, New York law
- Confidentiality: Mutual, survives 5 years post-termination
- Payment terms: Net 30
No hunting. No scrolling. No ctrl-F through dense paragraphs. Everything important is in one view.
2. Risk Flagging Against Your Playbook
Every company has standards. Preferred terms. Red lines they won’t cross.
The AI learns your playbook. Then it compares every contract to it.
When something deviates, it flags it:
- “Liability clause: This allows unlimited liability. Your standard caps at 12 months of fees.”
- “Termination clause: 120 days notice required. Your standard is 60 days.”
- “IP ownership: Vendor retains all IP. Your standard requires assignment of work product.”
- “Indemnification: One-sided in their favor. Your standard is mutual.”
It doesn’t just highlight text. It explains why it matters.
3. Missing Clause Detection
Sometimes the problem isn’t what’s there. It’s what’s not there.
The AI checks for required elements:
- No confidentiality clause
- No limitation of liability
- No force majeure provision
- No data protection terms (required for GDPR compliance)
- No audit rights
You catch gaps before they become problems.
4. Version Comparison & Change Analysis
Redlines are confusing. Especially when there are multiple rounds of changes.
The AI compares versions and explains what actually changed:
- “Payment terms changed from Net 30 to Net 45”
- “Liability cap reduced from unlimited to 12 months fees”
- “New clause added: automatic price increase of 5% annually”
- “Termination notice period increased from 60 to 90 days”
Plain language. No need to interpret tracked changes in Word.
5. Executive Summaries
Not everyone needs to read 40 pages. Most stakeholders need to know:
- What are we agreeing to?
- How long does it last?
- What are the key obligations?
- What are the key risks?
- Can we get out if things go wrong?
The AI creates a one-page summary. Key terms. Key risks. What matters. Written for business people, not lawyers.
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For Decision Makers
Faster deal cycles.
Contracts don’t sit in legal’s queue for days. The first pass happens instantly. Lawyers focus on negotiation, not reading.
Lower cost per contract.
Associates handle more volume. Partners spend time on complex matters, not routine reviews. External counsel gets used less.
Better risk management.
Nothing slips through because someone was rushed. Every contract gets the same thorough first review.
Predictable turnaround.
Standard contracts: same day. Complex contracts: prioritized properly. No more “when legal gets to it.”
For Lawyers
Focus on what matters.
Skip the clause extraction. Skip the version comparison. Start with the AI’s analysis and focus on judgment calls.
Catch more issues.
The AI reads every word. You focus on the flags. Nothing gets missed because you were reviewing contract number 15 that day.
Clear audit trail.
Every review is documented. What was checked. What was flagged. What decision was made and why.
Do more strategic work.
When routine reviews take 80% less time, you have time for the work that actually needs your expertise.
For the Business
Deals move faster.
Legal becomes an enabler, not a bottleneck. Sales closes faster. Procurement moves faster. Partnerships launch faster.
Better vendor relationships.
Quick feedback on contracts shows professionalism. Vendors know you’re organized and serious.
Consistency across the company.
Every contract gets reviewed against the same standards. No variation based on who’s available or how busy they are.
Real-World Example: NDA Review
NDAs are standard. They’re also essential. And they pile up.
Before AI:
- Associate receives NDA request
- Reads through 8 pages (mostly boilerplate)
- Checks terms against company standards
- Flags issues, suggests changes
- Writes email explaining concerns
- Time: 30-45 minutes per NDA
With AI:
- AI reviews NDA instantly
- Extracts all key terms
- Flags: “Definition of Confidential Information is broader than standard” and “No exception for independent development”
- Provides suggested language for both issues
- Creates summary for business stakeholder
- Associate reviews AI analysis and approves/modifies
- Time: 5-10 minutes per NDA
Same quality. 70% less time. Multiply that by 200 NDAs per year.
What AI Doesn’t Do
Let’s be clear about the limits.
AI doesn’t make business decisions.
It flags that liability is unlimited. It doesn’t decide if that’s acceptable for this specific deal.
AI doesn’t negotiate.
It identifies issues. It suggests language. A human decides what to push for and what to concede.
AI doesn’t sign off.
Every AI review gets human review. A lawyer still makes the final call. The lawyer is still responsible.
AI doesn’t handle unusual situations well.
Standard contracts? Perfect. Complex partnership agreements with novel terms? The AI helps, but humans do the heavy lifting.
AI is a co-pilot, not autopilot. It does the reading and the first analysis. Lawyers do the thinking.
How to Get Started
1. Identify your contract types.
What do you review most? NDAs? Service agreements? Vendor contracts? Start with high volume, standard formats.
2. Document your playbook.
What are your standard terms? What are your red lines? What needs to be flagged? The AI learns from this.
3. Train on your contracts.
The AI learns your style. Your standards. Your language. It gets better the more it sees.
4. Start with a pilot.
Run AI review alongside human review. Compare results. Build trust. Refine the system.
5. Expand gradually.
Start with NDAs. Add service agreements. Add vendor contracts. Build confidence step by step.
Common Questions
Can it review contracts in different formats?
Yes. PDFs. Word docs. Scanned documents. The AI extracts text and analyzes structure regardless of format.
What about non-standard contracts?
The AI handles them, but with less confidence. It still extracts clauses and flags issues, but you’ll need more human review.
Does it work for contracts in other languages?
Yes. The AI can read and analyze contracts in multiple languages. Accuracy varies by language complexity.
How accurate is it?
For standard contracts: 90-95% accuracy on clause extraction and risk flagging. That’s why human review is still required.
What about confidentiality?
Your contracts stay private. We can deploy on-premise or in your secure cloud environment. No data leaves your control.
How long until it’s productive?
Basic functionality: immediate. Tuned to your standards: 2-4 weeks. Fully optimized: 2-3 months of feedback.
Bunnlinjen
Contract review doesn’t need to be a bottleneck.
AI handles the reading, the extraction, the comparison, and the first analysis. Your lawyers handle the judgment calls.
The result is faster turnaround, lower costs, better consistency, and lawyers doing work that actually needs their expertise.
No hype. No magic. Just practical automation that makes your team more effective.
Ready to Speed Up Contract Review?
Every legal team has different contract types, different standards, and different workflows.
We don’t sell generic solutions. We look at your specific contracts. We identify where AI helps most. We build a system that fits your process.
Let’s talk about your contract review process and where AI can make a real difference.
