Contract review software: ultimate guide

Contracts are the backbone of every business – but how often does manually reviewing them turn into a bottleneck? In-house legal teams are balancing high volumes of contracts with increasing pressure to move faster. Contract reviews are essential, of course, but they can be slow, repetitive and difficult to scale when every deal needs legal input.

Recent benchmarks from Artifical Lawyer show that manual contract reviews can take up to 19 days for turnaround. But with the right tools, the same process can be reduced to just 3 days – without sacrificing accuracy or control. The goal isn’t to replace legal expertise, but to give it more impact.

Here's a very quick recap of what the contract review process involves...

How is technology transforming contract review?

Modern contract review software is designed to simplify and accelerate the review process by automating routine checks, surfacing key details (like payment terms and renewals), while also flagging clauses that deviate from your standards.

AI, however, takes it a step further.

AI-powered contract review tools use natural language processing to analyze contracts like a lawyer - only faster - scanning hundreds of documents in seconds to deliver insights that would take hours to find manually.

But why would a lawyer use (or trust) a tool that essentially replaces their work?

• Speed and efficiency – Instead of line-by-line manual checks, AI can scan an entire document in seconds, only surfacing the most relevant clauses for review.
• Risk detection – AI tools flag non-compliant clauses AND also missing ones! Leading AI contract review software analyzes your contracts against your legal guardrails and flags any missing clauses that may otherwise have gone undetected.
• AI-powered redlining and clause drafting – Modern AI review tools don’t just flag risky or unusual terms – they also suggest alternative wording. Take advantage of automatically generated redlines, clause redrafts, and even document comments. Stay in control by picking a tool that explains AI’s reasoning and logic.
• Legal team control – AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting, but it isn’t a replacement for your judgement. Lawyers stay firmly in control of all the decision-making, with AI acting as a first pass to reduce repetitive manual work and human error.

How to choose AI contract review software

Firstly, think about what you’re trying to achieve. Is it efficiency? Accuracy? Control? Here’s a few considerations that could help you pick the right tool for your legal team’s needs.

Accuracy and transparency:

• Make sure the tool can reliably identify key clauses, deviations from templates and potential risk areas. Look for success metrics like efficiency, process and performance.
• Your tool should show how conclusions are reached, for example highlighting the specific text in your legal standards that triggered a red flag and why.
  ‍

Built-in legal playbooks and customization:

• Preconfigured legal frameworks for common contract types like MSAs and NDAs can cut deal cycles and improve consistency right from day one.
• The ability to customize legal content and tailor rules, fallback terms and risk thresholds means your software can reflect your internal playbooks.
  ‍

AI redlining, redrafts and automated comments:

• If both efficiency and accuracy are vital to you, consider a tool that uses your legal guardrails to automatically generate contract redlines, alternative wording or fallback terms to speed up negotiations.
• And why stop there? Pick a tool that also automates contextual comments that explain why changes are recommended.
  ‍

Governance, auditing and compliance:

• If control is what you’re after, pick a tool that has audit trails and version control
• Data security is of course paramount, so make sure to check your tool’s AI policies, certifications, encryption and data handling policies before picking your tool. (Spoiler: we wouldn’t recommend putting contracts into the free version of ChatGPT!)

{{download 1}}

How does Summize simplify the contract review process?

That figure varies with contract complexity. While neither manual nor AI reviews guarantee 100% accuracy, AI greatly reduces review time and flags risks more consistently. Time wasted on manual reviews prevents legal teams from being true business leaders – but we’re here to change that!

Summize takes a different path to contract review functionality, giving you speed, accuracy and cost-savings that meet you directly in Microsoft Word and allowing simpler, easier AI contract reviews. But what exactly do you get by coming on board with us?
‍

Benefits of Summize’s contract review functionality

Our intelligent software simplifies and accelerates your existing legal review processes, without changing your existing working habits. Here’s how…

• Faster deal cycles – If contract requests are managed directly where your team already works, missing deadlines is much less likely. Removing bottlenecks and reducing email chains means legal teams can keep deals moving and accelerate time to revenue.
• Smart checklists – Summize analyzes your contracts against your standard templates and playbooks, then generates a clear checklist of compliant, non-compliant and even missing clauses. This provides a clear snapshot of risk, helping you prioritize key areas before signature.
• Transformed redlines – Summize provides surgical redline suggestions (which not every CLM does!), drafts alternative language and automates comments explaining why changes are recommended. All you have to do is accept, edit or reject suggestions, completing reviews up to 85% faster while staying consistent and in control.‍
• End-to-end visibility in a full CLM – Unlike point tools that only cover the review stage and risk creating data silos, Summize integrates AI-powered reviews into the full contract lifecycle – from request, to negotiation, to signature, to ongoing management. All to deliver full visibility, scalability, and efficiency in one platform.
  ‍

Summize in the real world – how Boon Edam halved contract review time

Boon Edam’s small in-house team needed faster reviews and clearer visibility into key contract dates and risk areas.

By putting Summize’s AI-powered CLM in place – and customizing the system with their bespoke clauses and playbooks – they slashed contract review time by 43% and freed up their legal team to focus on strategic work.

{{testimonial 1}}

Demo Summize

Want to find out more about the effect AI-powered contract review could have on your business? Explore our contract review software or book your free demo with a Summize product specialist to see the difference for yourself.