AI for in-house counsel: NDAs, vendor contracts and DPAs reviewed in Word

In-house teams see the same contracts again and again: NDAs, vendor and SaaS agreements, services agreements and DPAs, usually on the other side's paper and usually urgent. The work is repetitive, but every contract still needs a lawyer's judgment on the clauses that matter. LexDraft runs inside Word, applies the same playbook rules on every review and returns redlines as native tracked changes, so you can clear the queue without switching tools.

Where AI helps an in-house team

• The NDA queue. Run the NDA playbook, accept the standard redlines and send the turn in minutes. See how to review an NDA.
• Vendor and SaaS agreements. The SaaS MSA and Services playbooks check liability caps, data terms, SLAs and renewal terms. See our vendor contract checklist.
• DPAs. The DPA playbook checks processor terms such as subprocessors, breach notice and deletion.
• Consistency. Rule-based quick checks find defined terms used without a definition and cross-references that point nowhere, in milliseconds.
• First drafts. Drafting workflows for NDAs, services, consulting, employment, lease and partnership agreements write a first draft into Word from a plain-English description.

Privilege and confidentiality

• Corporate attorney-client privilege covers communications with in-house counsel made to obtain legal advice (Upjohn Co. v. United States, 1981). For communications with mixed business and legal purposes, many federal courts ask whether obtaining legal advice was one of the significant purposes (In re Kellogg Brown & Root, D.C. Cir. 2014).
• Check any AI tool's terms before you use it on company contracts: who can see the document, whether it is stored, and whether it is used to train models. LexDraft does not use customer documents to train models.
• ABA Formal Opinion 512 applies to in-house lawyers too: understand the tool, protect confidential information and check every output.

Setting playbook positions

Each LexDraft playbook contains specific checks, such as "Is the limitation of liability capped at 12 months of fees?" Agree your fallback positions with the business before you start, for example which liability carve-outs you accept and the longest NDA term you sign, so the review findings map to decisions you have already made.

A workflow in Word with LexDraft

1. Open the counterparty's draft in Word and open LexDraft in the side panel.
2. Pick the NDA, SaaS MSA, DPA or Services playbook and the governing-law state, then run the review.
3. Filter findings by severity: Critical and High first.
4. Accept the word-level redlines you agree with as tracked changes and add comments for the business.
5. Run the quick checks before you send the turn.

What LexDraft does not do

LexDraft is not a contract lifecycle management system: it does not route approvals, store executed contracts or track renewal dates. It does not give legal advice. AI review can miss issues or be wrong, so read the marked-up document yourself before it goes out.

Plans

Start on the Free plan: 5,000 generated words a month, no time limit and no credit card. Professional is $99 a month or $990 a year for 100,000 words a month. Business is $199 a month or $1,990 a year with unlimited words. LexDraft runs in Word 365 (Windows and Mac), Word 2021 and Word on the web, and it does not use customer documents to train models.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. LexDraft does not give legal advice; qualified counsel must review every draft. Spotted something out of date? Email support@lexdraft.ai and we will fix it.