AI contract review for in-house counsel

What does AI contract review do for an in-house legal team?

Artificial intelligence (AI) contract review software reads the full agreement, flags the terms that fall outside your company's positions and proposes changes. Gavel Exec does this in Microsoft Word for the contracts the business sends to legal, and gives the reasoning for each proposed redline.

Each job maps to a Gavel Exec feature:

• Contract risk analysis finds risky, missing and mismatched terms, including terms that differ from a term sheet or proposal you upload in Chat.
• Contract playbooks check each agreement against your company's positions, rule by rule.
• Contract redlining writes priority-ranked redlines for your side of the deal, which you apply as tracked changes.
• Clause benchmarking shows, in the web app, whether a vendor's terms are on-market for your jurisdiction, industry and company size.
• Contract drafting writes the clause or agreement the business asks for, following the precedent you keep in a Project.

Which contracts can in-house counsel review with Gavel Exec?

Gavel Exec reviews any agreement you open in Microsoft Word, and Chat in the web app accepts .docx, .doc and PDF files. Start with a playbook for the contract type the business sends most often.

For the clauses to check in each of these agreements, see commercial contract review software.

How does Gavel Exec apply our company's positions?

Gavel Exec applies your positions through playbooks and Organization-wide instructions. A playbook turns each position into a rule, and Gavel Exec checks the agreement against every rule. Organization-wide instructions apply to every chat and playbook run, so a standing preference such as your preferred governing law is included each time.

To build a playbook from what you already have, choose Generate from Files and upload checklists, spreadsheet playbooks or signed agreements as .docx, PDF or .csv files. Gavel Exec drafts the rules for you to review and edit. Run the finished playbook against an agreement you consider correct, and adjust any rule that fails until every rule passes.

Projects keep reference files and instructions together, for example your standard MSA, your DPA and the business's term sheet, so Gavel Exec can reference the same documents in every chat in that Project.

How does an in-house lawyer review a contract with Gavel Exec?

An in-house review in Gavel Exec takes five steps inside Microsoft Word, from running your playbook to reading the counterparty's reply. The business owner sees your tracked changes and, if you add them, comments that explain each one.

1. Open the agreement in Word. When the business sends a contract, open it in Microsoft Word and open the Gavel Exec panel.
2. Run the playbook for that contract type. Choose Use a Playbook and pick the one your team keeps for this kind of agreement, such as vendor agreements. Each rule passes or fails, and a failed rule shows the reason and proposed changes for you to accept, edit or reject.
3. Redline the agreement. For a full markup, choose Redline Document, enter the company as the party you represent and set the negotiation style on the slider from light through market to aggressive. Review the redlines in the panel, then click Apply All to insert them as tracked changes, and reject or edit any you don't want.
4. Explain the issues to the business. Choose Add Comments with the comment type Explain key points/risks to my client, so the business owner can read in the margin why each change matters. Delete these comments before the draft goes to the other side.
5. Read the counterparty's next turn. When the markup comes back, Summarize Redlines outlines each change the other side proposed.

Can AI contract review reduce outside counsel spend?

It can when routine contracts make up a large share of the work you send out. The first pass on an NDA, a vendor agreement or a customer MSA happens in-house, and outside counsel gets the matters that need specialist judgment. How much that saves depends on your current mix of work, so measure it against your own outside counsel invoices.

In a 2025 survey of 657 in-house professionals in 30 countries by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Everlaw, 64% said they expect to rely less on outside counsel because of generative AI, and 50% expect lower outside counsel costs. The share actively using generative AI rose to 52%, from 23% in 2024.

How is Gavel Exec different from contract lifecycle management (CLM) software or a general AI assistant?

Gavel Exec works on the agreement in front of you: it reviews, redlines and drafts. A CLM stores signed contracts and routes approvals, and a general AI assistant answers questions about whatever you give it.

Gavel Exec has no approval routing, e-signature or contract repository, so it works alongside a CLM if you have one.

What results do in-house lawyers report?

Omar Nakadi, Legal Counsel at a regulated financial services firm, reports up to 60% less review time per contract with Gavel Exec.

“It’s like having another assistant with you who hears your voice, understands what you want, and gives you whatever you need in seconds.”

What should a lawyer still check?

Redlines appear in the Gavel Exec panel first, each with its priority and reasoning, and go into the document only when you apply them. Each applied change appears in the draft as a tracked change you can keep, edit or reject. Read each flagged clause against the deal and the business's goals before you rely on it, and confirm the business terms with the person who sent the contract.

The American Bar Association's Formal Opinion 512 (July 29, 2024) applies the duties of competence, confidentiality and client communication to lawyers' use of generative AI and expects lawyers to review AI output for accuracy.

Is contract data secure in Gavel Exec?

Gavel Exec is SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) Type II certified. Gavel has Zero Data Retention agreements with the AI model providers it uses, including OpenAI, and does not use customer data, prompts or documents to train AI models. Details are on the Gavel security page.

Over 2,000 legal organizations in 28 countries use Gavel, which is part of Relativity.

How much does Gavel Exec cost?

Each user starts with 25 free queries, with no credit card. Paid plans cost $160 per user per month, or $1,740 per user per year, and include 1,000 queries per user per month. Teams of 10 or more seats get discounted pricing. See Gavel Exec pricing, start free or request a demo.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated October 29, 2026.