Standardisation pioneer, oneNDA, has published a directory of all the companies and law firms that are now using their crowdsourced non-disclosure agreement – and it’s a lot, with 369 entities listed so far across the world.
It’s all the more impressive given the fact that the project, started by UK-based Electra Japonas and Roisin Noonan, only began in February this year.
This perhaps underlines just how much they have tapped into a real need for standardisation around basic contracts.
Those adopting the template NDA include: Diageo, PwC, UBS, EasyJet, Panasonic, Habito and Gymshark, plus multiple leading law firms, such as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Freshfields, among many others.
Speaking to Artificial Lawyer, Noonan said: ‘The directory will enable companies to check whether their counter-party is also on oneNDA, removing the need for any NDA negotiations and enabling both parties to get onto the good stuff quicker.
‘We’re super excited about the launch and grateful to all of the organisations that have pinned their colours to the standardisation mast.’
Japonas added: ‘oneNDA has now been downloaded over 7,000 times in over 40 different countries. We are delighted with the traction it’s received, but we would still like to see 1,000 organisations adopt it by the end of the year.
‘In terms of next steps for the project, we are currently in the process of creating an M&A module, which users can bolt onto oneNDA to make it fit for purpose for a transactional scenario.
‘Our SteerCo [the group of lawyers helping with the project] is different to last time as we needed input from organisations with more specific expertise in this area.’
This reconfigured SteerCo includes:
- A&O
- Bank of America
- Bitmovin
- Blackmores
- BNP Paribas
- BT
- Clifford Chance
- Freshfields
- Insud Pharma
- JERA
- PwC
- Rabobank
- RVU
- Standard Chartered
- UBS
Japonas continued: ‘We also took a slightly different approach with this project and will be asking for more community input at more stages of the project. The SteerCo has now provided us with the gaps they see between oneNDA and an M&A module, and we’ve now opened up their gap analysis to the public and invite the oneNDA community to provide their feedback on our site.
‘In terms of what the future holds, we’ll be led by the community on what they’d like to see next: oneNDA + IP module, oneDPA, oneMSA … you tell us!’
Overall, this level of adoption is an indicator of just how much the market is welcoming the standardisation of basic contracts. This also connects to a wide range of issues, from improving automation and data extraction in relation to contracts, to removing inefficiency from the legal sector, to speeding up transactions, to more broadly supporting the idea that not all legal work has to be bespoke and exhaustive when it comes to clearly defined mutual needs.
It also bodes well for further standardisation efforts across the sector, whether that is for taxonomy projects such as SALI, or the many others currently at work in various parts of the market.