> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ravenna.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contract review

> Turn contract review from a DM queue into a desk: intake that captures the deal, triage by risk and deadline, a review checklist as tasks, and signature as a tracked step.

export const Checkbox = ({items = []}) => {
  const [checked, setChecked] = useState(Array(items.length).fill(false));
  const toggle = index => {
    setChecked(prev => {
      const copy = [...prev];
      copy[index] = !copy[index];
      return copy;
    });
  };
  return <div className="custom-checkbox-list">
      {items.map((text, index) => <div key={index} className="custom-checkbox-item flex items-center mb-2">
          <input type="checkbox" checked={checked[index]} onChange={() => toggle(index)} className="mr-2" />
          <span>{text}</span>
        </div>)}
    </div>;
};

Contract review is the request Legal teams most want structure around and most often end up doing over Slack DMs. The fix is a five-field form and a triage rule, not a workflow engine.

<Info icon="list-check">
  **Prerequisites:** a private Legal workspace with a channel, and the [Day one](/guides/day-one/overview) track finished.
</Info>

## What good looks like

<Checkbox
  items={[
"Every review request arrives with the counterparty, the value, the deadline, and the paper",
"A standard NDA on your template is turned around same day and never reaches a lawyer's list",
"Anything unusual is visible as unusual, on day one, not on the day it is due",
"The signature step is on the ticket, so \"did this get signed\" has an answer"
]}
/>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Ask five questions, and make four of them required">
    | Field         | Type                                                               | Why it is required                                                                        |
    | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | Counterparty  | Text                                                               | Deduplicates, and surfaces the counterparty you already have terms with                   |
    | Contract type | Select: NDA, MSA, DPA, order form, vendor terms, employment, other | Drives the triage path                                                                    |
    | Annual value  | Number                                                             | The single best proxy for how much review it deserves                                     |
    | Deadline      | Date                                                               | Legal work is scheduled by deadline more than by anything else                            |
    | Whose paper   | Select: ours, theirs                                               | "Theirs" is a completely different job and should be visible before anyone opens the file |

    Attach the document to the ticket rather than linking to a drive folder. The attachment is what makes the ticket self-contained six months later.

    <Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [forms](/documentation/tickets/forms/overview) and [attachments](/documentation/tickets/attachments)</Callout>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Let the standard cases skip the lawyer">
    An NDA on your own template, under your value threshold, with no changes requested, does not need a lawyer's attention. Write that rule down and let the desk act on it.

    A workflow on **Form Submitted** with a condition on contract type and whose paper can set the priority low, apply a "standard terms" tag, and post to the triage channel with a note saying why it was classified that way. Someone still looks, but they look at a pile of five instead of a pile of forty.

    <Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [workflow triggers and actions](/documentation/automate/workflows/triggers-actions)</Callout>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Triage on risk and deadline, not arrival order">
    Three views run the desk:

    * **Due this week**, not resolved, sorted by deadline. The working list.
    * **Their paper**, not resolved. These take three times as long, so they need earlier attention.
    * **High value**, above your threshold. Nothing here should be a surprise to the person who owns the relationship.

    <Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [views](/documentation/tickets/organize/views)</Callout>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Make the review itself a checklist">
    A task template per contract type turns a review from "someone is working on it" into visible progress the requester can see without asking.

    For an MSA on the counterparty's paper:

    1. Confirm scope and term against the order form
    2. Check liability cap and indemnities against the playbook
    3. Check data processing terms, and route to Privacy if personal data is involved
    4. Send redlines to the counterparty
    5. Record the negotiated position for reuse
    6. Route for signature

    Step 5 is the one teams skip and the one that pays off. A recorded position becomes knowledge, which means the same question does not need a lawyer next quarter.

    <Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more in [task templates](/guides/how-to/task-templates)</Callout>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approve the deviations, not the contracts">
    Do not put an approval on every contract. Put it on the exceptions your playbook names: liability above the cap, non-standard indemnity, unusual term length, anything above your value threshold.

    Use one approval template with skip conditions on the fields, so a standard NDA passes straight through and a deviation collects the sign-off it needs.

    <Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more in [approval flows](/guides/playbooks/approval-flows)</Callout>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send for signature from the ticket">
    Signature is the step that most often falls out of the process, because it moves to a different tool and the ticket goes quiet.

    There is no native e-signature integration, but a [Foundry](/guides/how-to/foundry/overview) action can send an envelope and record the result on the ticket. The [DocuSign OAuth walkthrough](/guides/how-to/foundry/setup-oauth/docusign) covers the connection setup.

    Build this last. A signature action on a desk with no intake automates the wrong end of the problem.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Where teams get this wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="An optional deadline field">
    Every request then implicitly means "urgent", and the desk cannot be prioritized.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="No &#x22;whose paper&#x22; field">
    It is the largest single predictor of effort and it costs one dropdown.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Reviewing everything">
    If a standard NDA takes a lawyer's afternoon, the desk will not survive its second busy quarter.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Documents in a drive folder">
    Six months later nobody can reconstruct which version was signed.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Automating signature before intake">
    Tempting, because it is the fun part, and it changes nothing about the backlog.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Policy and compliance questions" icon="book-open-check" href="/guides/playbooks/legal/policy-and-compliance" horizontal>
    The other half of Legal's volume.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Approval flows" icon="check-check" href="/guides/playbooks/approval-flows" horizontal>
    Skip conditions and rounds in detail.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


## Related topics

- [Legal](/guides/playbooks/legal/overview.md)
- [Playbooks](/guides/playbooks/overview.md)
- [Policy and compliance questions](/guides/playbooks/legal/policy-and-compliance.md)
- [Workspaces](/documentation/platform/workspaces/overview.md)
- [Guides](/guides/overview.md)