Contracts are everywhere. Every time an in-house lawyer opens their inbox, there’s another SaaS agreement, NDA, or DPA waiting to be reviewed. They’re the backbone of business—holding relationships together, defining responsibilities, and managing risks. But here’s the problem: there are too many of them, they’re often too complex, and they demand more time than anyone has. Contracts are broken.
This isn’t a new challenge, but the scale of it is growing. As businesses expand, contracts pile up, and legal teams are stuck in the churn. Every indemnity clause, confidentiality term, or regulatory obligation is a potential landmine if overlooked. But when you have hundreds of contracts to review each month, you have to find a way forward. Some lawyers only check for a number of red flags before pushing the contract through. Others power through, hoping they catch everything that could be a potential issue. Hacking your reviews means risks will slip through the cracks, leaving you wondering if you’ve missed anything. This whole process is simply not working and technology alone cannot solve the problem it creates.
This is where standardization steps in. It’s not about stifling creativity or applying a cookie-cutter approach. It’s about creating a reliable, trusted foundation that makes contracts faster, fairer, and easier to negotiate. Standardization frees lawyers from the endless grind of starting from scratch, providing clarity and consistency from the outset. Instead of battling over the same indemnity clause for the tenth time, legal teams can focus on what really matters.
So, what’s the payoff? Standardization cuts out inefficiency. It helps legal teams deliver faster results, reduces friction in negotiations, and creates space to focus on higher-value work. It also makes technology like AI actually useful—AI can process and flag deviations from your standards rather than generating chaos. The result? Contracts that move quickly, meet business needs, and support scalable growth without compromising on quality.
In a world where the demand for speed, accuracy, and scale is only growing, standardization isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a competitive advantage. It’s the foundation for a legal function that’s prepared for the challenges of today and resilient enough to tackle what comes next. So, the question isn’t whether to adopt market standards – it’s how fast you can start.
I’m on a mission to bring meaningful standards to the forefront of contracting in 2025. oneNDA was just the start, but the journey is far from over. There’s an urgent need to tackle the chaos of contracts with practical, collaborative solutions, and that’s only possible with input from the legal community.
This is your invitation to join me in a cause that can truly transform how we work with contracts. Technology alone isn’t the answer—it’s the combination of data, community, tech, and standardization that will drive real change. Together, we have the power to create realistic, balanced standards that simplify contracts for everyone.
Our next step is the launch of oneSaaS in January 2025, the first of many standards we plan to develop. But we can’t do it alone. We’re looking for collaborators—legal professionals ready to shape the future of contracts with us.
We’re calling on legal professionals to collaborate with us and help shape the future of contracts. By registering for the Law Insider Standards Community through the link below, you’ll gain access to everything inside—resources, discussions, and opportunities to contribute.
Together, we can build a simpler, smarter, and more effective way of working.
Register for the Law Insider Standards Community
Tags: Standardization
