As organizations deal with greatly increasing volumes of contracts and legal documents, they need to establish cost-effective and streamlined review processes to ensure that these contracts are handled efficiently. Here are some frequently asked questions about support solutions in contract review.
What is a contract review?
Contract review involves analyzing a legal agreement and evaluating it in detail to assess its accuracy, clarity, enforceability, risk exposure, and fairness between the parties involved. This process may include identifying problematic clauses or provisions requiring negotiation or modification before finalizing an agreement.
What is the purpose of contract review?
The purpose of contract review is to ensure that a legal agreement accurately reflects the intentions and obligations of all parties involved. It helps identify potential risks, ambiguities, inconsistencies, and errors before signing. A thorough review also ensures compliance with applicable laws and regulations while protecting each party’s interests.
What are the steps in reviewing contracts?
- Read the entire contract carefully.
- Analyze key terms and conditions.
- Evaluate rights, responsibilities, and liabilities for each party.
- Identify any ambiguous language or unclear provisions.
- Check for missing clauses or information gaps.
- Determine if deadlines and important dates are reasonable.
- Ensure compliance with relevant laws.
What are some check points to remember when doing contract review?
- Identify the parties involved in the contract.
- Define the purpose and scope of the contract.
- Identify the obligations and responsibilities of each party.
- Specify the payment terms and conditions.
- Include provisions for dispute resolution and termination.
- Ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
- Review the contract for accuracy, clarity, and consistency.
- Get input from contract managers and your legal team to ensure that the contract reflects your organization’s preferred language and terms.
- Finalize the contract and obtain signatures to ensure that it is fully executed.
- Submit the contract to your organization’s established contract management system so that dates and obligations are monitored on an ongoing basis.
Efficient Support Solutions
Working with a legal support solutions service provider is another way to improve contract review efficiency. Here are some ways that having a partner can strengthen contract review efficiency:
- Document management and organization: Legal support providers can assist in the efficient organization and management of contract documents. They can create a structured digital repository, ensuring that all contracts are easily accessible, categorized, and searchable. This reduces the time spent on searching for specific contracts and allows legal teams to focus on substantive review tasks.
- Scalability: Legal support providers can scale their operations to handle fluctuations in workload. Whether a company is dealing with a sudden surge in contracts due to a merger or needs ongoing support for routine contract review, support providers can adapt to the volume requirements, ensuring that contracts are reviewed efficiently without overburdening in-house legal teams.
- Global expertise: Many companies now have a global presence, and many LPO providers can match that footprint with attorneys whose global expertise matches their clients. This means that organizations can tap into specialized knowledge when reviewing contracts with complex international or industry-specific requirements, improving accuracy and compliance.
- Cost savings: Outsourcing routine contract review tasks to legal support providers often results in significant cost savings. Companies can avoid the overhead costs associated with hiring and training additional in-house legal staff while benefiting from competitive pricing offered by support firms. This cost-efficiency can be particularly appealing with limited legal budgets.
- Quality assurance: Reputable providers have established quality control processes and methodologies. They ensure that contract reviews adhere to industry standards and compliance requirements.
- Streamlined workflows: Legal support providers can work closely with in-house legal teams to develop streamlined contract review workflows. By integrating support services into existing processes, organizations can achieve greater synergy, reducing redundancies and ensuring that contracts move through the review pipeline efficiently.
Baer Reed’s contract team can help organizations efficiently manage contract review. Contact us today to learn more about our contract review services.
Mr. Reyes graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the Procter and Gamble Student Excellence Award. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. During law school, Mr. Reyes was part of the Philippine delegation to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna, Austria. He was also a member of the Ateneo Society of International Law and the St. Thomas More Debate Society. He completed his internship at the Public Attorney’s Office. He wrote a thesis entitled: “To Kill A White Elephant: An Analysis of the Fiduciary Exception to the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege”. Mr. Reyes is admitted to practice law in the Philippines and the State of New York.
Ms. Lardizabal-Manzano is a graduate of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, where she earned her B.A. in Political Science. In 2003, she received her law degree from Lyceum of the Philippines and was admitted to practice law in 2004.
Matthew Hersh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1990 and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Cap. Avi Levak (Res. IDF) graduated from from Israel’s prestigious Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is also a Leadership and Communication coach trained in TuT coaching by Alon gal in Israel. Avi specializes in high-level, in-depth analysis of business and client needs, within systems and software strategy and architecture.
Ms. Tyler graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She also worked on The Tax Lawyer journal and was a member of the award-winning Barristers’ Council Mock Trial Team. Ms. Tyler is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo graduated cum laude and top nine in her batch from Miriam College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in InternationalStudies. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in Rockwell. During law school, she interned in Rivera, Santos, Maranan & Associates. She was also part of Ateneo’s Labor Law Bar Operations. She wrote her thesis on, “Stealing Privacy: Limitations on Media’s Photographic Invasion.,” Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo is admitted to practice law in the Philippines.
Ms. Aquino-Batallones obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies (with Minors in Global Politics and Hispanic Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2011, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. During law school, she interned at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles then became an intern of Ateneo Legal Services Center’s Clinical Legal Education Program.
Mr. De Guzman graduated from San Beda College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics and received his law degree from San Beda College of Law. He is multilingual and is fluent in three languages: Chinese, Filipino, and English. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.