How to Review 50 Contracts in 1 Hour Using AI

Reviewing 50 contracts manually takes weeks. An experienced attorney can review about 3-5 contracts per day for detailed clause extraction. At that pace, 50 contracts is a two-week project. With AI document analysis, the same review takes under an hour. Here is the exact workflow.

Prerequisites

Before you start, define what you are looking for. Contract review without clear objectives is slow regardless of the tools. Common review objectives include:

• Identifying termination and renewal provisions
• Extracting payment terms and escalation schedules
• Flagging non-standard indemnification clauses
• Checking for change-of-control provisions
• Verifying compliance with company contracting standards

The 1-Hour Workflow

Step 1: Upload and Organize (10 minutes)

1. Upload all 50 contracts to Doc and Tell
2. Create a collection grouping all contracts together
3. If contracts fall into categories (vendor agreements, employment contracts, NDAs), create sub-collections for each type

Step 2: Batch Extraction (15 minutes)

Run your key extraction queries across the entire collection:

• "What are the termination provisions and notice periods in each contract?"
• "What are the indemnification obligations and any caps on liability?"
• "Which contracts have auto-renewal clauses and what are the opt-out deadlines?"
• "What are the payment terms and any late payment penalties?"

Each query returns results across all 50 contracts with citations to the relevant clauses.

Step 3: Flag Exceptions (15 minutes)

Now ask targeted questions to identify contracts that need closer attention:

• "Which contracts have indemnification without a liability cap?"
• "Which contracts have non-standard termination provisions?"
• "Which contracts allow assignment without consent?"
• "Are there any contracts with governing law outside our preferred jurisdiction?"

These queries surface the 5-10 contracts (out of 50) that likely need human review.

Step 4: Verify Critical Findings (15 minutes)

For each flagged contract, click the citation to verify the AI's finding against the source text. Focus your verification on:

1. The contracts flagged as exceptions in Step 3
2. Any finding that would trigger a business decision
3. Clauses where precise language matters (indemnification caps, termination notice periods)

Step 5: Document and Report (5 minutes)

Export your findings with citations. Your report should include:

• Summary of key terms across all 50 contracts
• Exceptions and non-standard provisions flagged for review
• Specific contracts requiring attorney attention with cited reasons

Why This Works

The workflow works because it separates two distinct activities:

1. Extraction (mechanical): Finding and organizing clause text across documents — this is what AI does in seconds
2. Judgment (human): Evaluating whether specific provisions create risk — this is where attorney expertise is essential

By letting AI handle extraction, attorneys spend their time on judgment where it matters most.

Tips for Best Results

• Be specific in your queries: "What are the termination provisions?" produces better results than "review this contract"
• Verify before acting: Always click citations on findings that drive decisions
• Use DOCX when available: DOCX files preserve text structure better than PDFs, producing more accurate extraction
• Group similar contracts: Reviewing NDAs separately from vendor agreements produces more relevant cross-document comparisons

Getting Started

Upload a batch of contracts to Doc and Tell and try the extraction queries above. Start with contracts you know well so you can immediately assess accuracy. Once you trust the extraction quality, scale to your full review portfolio.