Digital contracting startup Summize has partnered with The Law Boutique (TLB) – creators of the oneNDA and Claustack projects – to launch a new framework to improve contract review, called the ‘Premium Playbook’.
The Premium Playbook will integrate with Summize’s NLP-powered software, ‘saving clients 85% in time spent reviewing contracts by having knowledge, guidance, and content at their fingertips’ the company said.
‘With 90% of legal professionals using solutions from three or more software vendors to manage their work, concerns around inefficiencies caused by these multiple platforms, unfriendly solutions and an inability to collaborate effectively were top of mind,’ they added.
Sounds good, but how does it work? Artificial Lawyer asked Tom Dunlop, CEO of Summize, about how the Premium Playbook will be used.
– What exactly is the Premium Playbook?
The playbook is a resource that contains both guidance and content (such as precedent clauses) for legal teams while they are negotiating contracts. Legal teams traditionally use this to cascade knowledge or ensure consistency across their teams when reviewing and negotiating contracts.
– Can you please give a practical example of how it will be used?
A typical example would be a third-party Master Services Agreement (MSA) is sent to the legal team for review. Summize’s AI technology can summarise it and then guide a lawyer to the relevant parts of the MSA that require a review.
In addition, the playbook then contains information such as; internal guidance, company standard, fallback position, and escalation procedures if Summize finds red flags – e.g. if the liability cap is above £2 million, and then who would need to approve this.
This helps the lawyer not only find and understand what is in the MSA, but remedy any red flags in a consistent way.
See images below:
And below an inset image from the playbook table.
– Who makes it? TLB, the client?
TLB makes the playbook and it is maintained and updated so the user (i.e. the legal team) knows that it is compliant and up to date. You can also clone these to customise them on a per client basis – so universal and per client are both supported.
– What tech is involved?
All of this is provided through the Summize Microsoft Word Add-In – this allows you to conduct an AI review (e.g. summary and red flags) of the contract and access the playbook content and include functionality such as auto-add comments within Word, and also replace and insert text – i.e. everything you need to conduct effective reviews and negotiations, all from within Microsoft Word.
—
Electra Japonas, founder of TLB and co-founder of the oneNDA project, added in a statement: ‘Traditional legal methods to deal with contracts are very manual. Now it’s clear we need to be thinking about how to scale contract processes, people are looking to technology and standardisation as a way to do things differently.
‘Lawyers’ precious time is far better suited to focusing on larger business goals. We’re confident that this playbook will equip Summize clients, old and new, with best-in-class software, crucial when interacting with contracts.’
–
(P.S. And a special congratulations to Electra on the new addition to the team!)