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Practice note, May 30, 2025

Practice note: reviewing an NDA in four minutes without missing the assignment clause

Sofia Almeida CruzProduct, Redlining8 min read

The problem

We keep coming back to reviewing an NDA in four minutes without missing the assignment clause, because the cost of a miss here compounds across a portfolio.

What we do about it

Our approach is to index the document twice: once by structure, once by defined term. Findings then carry a pointer back to both, so a reviewer can confirm a conclusion without re-reading the agreement.

In the current build this runs as part of the standard pass, so it applies to every document in the set rather than only the ones someone thought to check.

Where it breaks

Scanned originals with poor image quality remain the weakest input. So do agreements that were assembled from three precedents and never reconciled, which is common in long-lived supplier relationships.

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Working notes from the Lawrs team. General information about legal technology and practice, not legal advice.