It’s clear what’s required to improve the contract-creation side of a company’s contract process:
- adopt a style guide for contract language, most likely by means of a “statement of style” (here)
- train your personnel in drafting and reviewing contracts consistent with the style guide
- overhaul your templates consistent with the style guide
- automate your templates, to the extent that deal volume, deal value, and the level of customization required would make it cost-effective to automate
That’s easily said, but it involves challenges. I wrote about them in this post, but since then I’ve thought further about what it takes to accomplish change.
Above is part of a post on Contract-Automation Clearinghouse. To see the rest, go here.
Contract-Automation Clearinghouse is where I now put my posts on contract automation and related topics.
Slow sounds to me like a good choice for many in-house legal departments. Of course, if you can get a major player, with market power, to make the change on a widespread basis (and it would probably need to be supported by senior management and not just the legal department) then this could start some real momentum.