Best Practices for Redlining in Gavel Exec

Gavel Exec is an AI assistant embedded in Microsoft Word that helps transactional lawyers revise, analyze, redline, and train the AI to their own preferences. Below are specific, actionable best practices for getting the most out of Playbooks, Projects, and chat-based drafting in Gavel Exec.

1. Ask for Summaries Before Diving In

If you're reviewing a long contract, use chat or Projects to get a quick summary first. For example:

• "Summarize this agreement in bullet points."
• "Highlight the key risk areas in this draft."

This helps you prioritize where to spend your attention and reduce overall review fatigue.

2. Use the Context of the Entire Document or Specific Sections

You can ask Gavel Exec to revise your entire document or just specific sections. If you want to address just one section, drag your cursor over that section in the document to ask pointed questions.

3. Be Specific with a Clear, Full Prompt

The clarity of your prompts directly affects the quality of the output. If prompts are left generic, the system prompt will weigh more heavily, and the redlines will default toward market benchmarks. That’s useful if you want to see how a draft compares to market norms, but not if you want tailored results.

To get the best outcome, spell out the goal in clear, quantifiable terms. Instead of “improve this clause,” try:

• Revise this indemnification clause to make it mutual, add a monetary cap, and make it consistent with our startup SaaS agreements.
• Improve language to make it more concise without changing the meaning.
• Without changing the meaning, rewrite this clause to make it understandable at a high school English level.

For example:

• Instead of: "Improve this clause."
• Try: "Revise this indemnification clause to make it mutual, add a monetary cap, and make it consistent with our startup SaaS agreements."

After the first response, you can iterate further with follow-up prompts. But starting with a full, detailed prompt saves time and leads to stronger drafts up front.

4. Feed Context Files (Uploads) Early In Both Chat or Projects

The quality of Gavel Exec’s output in both Chat and Projects improves dramatically with rich, relevant context.

Upload these files early:

• Your preferred templates or fallback clauses.
• Style guides or firm policies.
• Previous drafts or versions you’ve reviewed.

This helps Gavel Exec internalize your standards and gives it more to work with when responding to prompts. The earlier you upload, the less you'll have to course-correct later.

Projects are powerful because they allow you to define reusable sets of instructions. You can create persistent rules such as:

• Don’t evaluate against market standards
• Always include specific clauses or provisions
• Ensure redlines follow a particular risk posture

By saving these as Projects, you avoid repeating the same instructions and ensure consistency across documents.

5. Check for Defined and Undefined Terms Automatically

Use Gavel Exec to help you verify that every defined term is used. And that every used term is properly defined. You can prompt:

• "Are all defined terms in this contract accounted for?"
• "Highlight any terms used that aren’t defined."

This is a quick win that improves clarity and reduces ambiguity.

6. Adjust Risk Sensitivity to Match Your Client or Deal

Tune how aggressive or conservative you want the redlines to be. If you’re negotiating for a buyer, you might want more aggressive flags. For a seller, you may want fewer. Ask Gavel Exec:

• "Redline this conservatively for a seller position."
• "Highlight only high-risk deviations for a buyer-side review."

The tone and strength of the feedback can shift accordingly.

7. Mark Language as Approved or Disapproved for Better Results

Redlines become more accurate with your feedback. When reviewing suggested changes, mark them as "approved" or "disapproved" by using the green checkmark and the red X.

Each time you use it, it gets smarter about what should or shouldn't trigger a flag.

8. Create a Playbook and Calibrate It With Your Perfect Template 

Playbooks are one of the most efficient ways to create a repeatable, rules-based review of your contracts. They work best when you've already decided on the language or clause types you want to flag or enforce.

One of the best ways to ensure your Playbook is tuned to your standards is to use your "gold standard" document to iterate.

Here's how:

• Open your ideal version of the document in Word.
• Create your Playbook rules and run them against the document.
• Tweak rules until you reach a 100% pass rate.

This method gives you confidence that the Playbook flags real deviations from your preferred language. Over time, this creates a reliable benchmark for others in your firm to follow.

9. Use Chat Flexibly, Inside or Outside of Projects

Chat in Gavel Exec is a powerful standalone feature as well as a key part of Projects. You can think of chat as your continuous legal drafting companion. One that can work context-free or with rich background knowledge, depending on where you use it.

Use Chat outside of a Project when:

• You want quick input, like rephrasing a clause or asking for an explanation of a concept.
• You're working on a one-off edit or exploring drafting ideas that don't require broader document understanding.
• You want to quickly test out how the AI handles your instructions before committing to a full review.

Use Chat within a Project when:

• You need responses that are informed by past documents and firm precedent you've uploaded.
• You want to maintain continuity in the conversation while referencing prior drafts, preferences, and legal style.
• You're iterating across multiple tasks and want the AI to "remember" context across them.

10. Playbooks vs. Projects. Choose the Right Tool for the Job

Think of Playbooks like a junior associate applying your checklist. Over time, you can improve the Playbook to reduce false positives and handle more nuanced judgment calls. Use a Playbook when:

• You want to apply a checklist of rules or issue-spotting logic to a draft.
• Your goal is consistency and adherence to policy across contracts.
• You're acting as a gatekeeper to ensure deviations from preferred language are flagged.

Projects allow you to bring everything together. You can load reference files, write custom instructions, and guide the AI through more nuanced reviews. Projects are best when:

• You want the AI to act more like a senior associate. Someone who understands nuance and big-picture context.
• You're reviewing multiple documents or providing reference material.
• You're asking the AI to revise, comment, or negotiate with deeper understanding.

Enjoy Gavel Exec

These best practices are designed to help you move confidently from first use to advanced adoption. Start simple. Try a clause edit or a quick chat, and build from there. The more context and preferences you give it, the more accurate and aligned the AI becomes. Download Gavel Exec for free to get started today.

If you have examples, suggestions, or success stories, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out anytime at [email protected]. 

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