AI Contracts: A Workflow for Drafting and Review

An AI contract workflow uses an assistant to organize instructions, prepare draft language, and explain proposed changes, while a qualified lawyer reviews legal meaning and a person authorizes the deal. Start with an approved template and written instructions rather than asking a chatbot to invent a complete agreement.

The difficult part often comes after the first draft: someone changes a term, another person accepts an exception, and the next assistant misses the reason. fenbs can keep approved drafting instructions, unresolved questions, and negotiation decisions outside the chat so subsequent sessions start from the same record.

How do you start an AI-assisted contract?

1. Confirm that the proposed AI tool and the information you will submit are permitted by your organization and the applicable confidentiality obligations.
2. Collect the approved template, transaction facts, commercial instructions, and the person responsible for legal review.
3. Ask for a list of missing facts before requesting draft language. Resolve those questions with the people who know the deal.
4. Draft one section at a time, compare it against the approved starting language, and send the complete agreement for professional review.

Say a small design agency needs a services agreement. Its commercial instructions might specify the deliverables, acceptance process, invoice schedule, and who supplies project materials. Those are facts the agency must provide. The assistant should flag missing information about ownership or termination rather than confidently choosing terms that the agency never discussed.

Keep the first test narrow. Try a fictional transaction or approved public sample before using real matter information. The broader guide to using AI at work explains the same useful habit: define a bounded task and decide what evidence would make its result acceptable.

What belongs in the drafting instructions?

Write the business purpose, parties, document type, expected deliverables, and relevant jurisdiction for counsel to confirm. Identify the template by filename and version. Separate agreed facts from proposed positions and unanswered questions; otherwise a suggestion in a meeting note can become an apparently settled contractual obligation.

Include a rule about what the assistant may change. For example, it may populate identified business fields and propose alternatives in a separate note, but it may not silently rewrite approved clauses. Put those continuing instructions in fenbs Decisions and rules so another connected assistant can read them before drafting.

How should you request draft language?

Ask for a bounded output with visible assumptions. A useful request identifies the source clause, the specific commercial change, and what must remain untouched. Request a proposed revision, a plain-language explanation of its effect, and questions for the reviewer. Treat all three as draft work.

Using only the approved template and confirmed transaction facts, prepare a proposed revision to the delivery section. Preserve defined terms and existing cross-references. List every assumption and any missing facts. Explain changes separately. Do not mark the text approved or add legal authorities.

Read the result against the original clause. Check whether an apparently cosmetic change altered a condition, exception, deadline, or responsibility. Ask the assistant to identify the source for each populated fact, then verify that source yourself. A fluent explanation does not establish that the proposed language serves your transaction.

How do you compare revisions during negotiation?

Keep an authoritative document version and use your document editor to inspect changes. AI can help explain a comparison, but a summary is not a substitute for checking the actual edited text. Label each input clearly: approved starting version, counterparty revision, and proposed response.

For each meaningful change, ask what obligation moved, who benefits, what other clauses it touches, and which person needs to respond. A change to a definition may affect multiple sections even when those sections show no edited words. Have the reviewer inspect definitions, schedules, attachments, and cross-references together.

Record the difference between a proposed concession and an accepted concession. If the commercial owner accepts an exception, preserve the person, reason, document version, and scope. The wider AI writing workflow covers general drafting; contract negotiations need this additional record of actual authority.

What must a lawyer and business owner verify?

The legal reviewer needs the whole agreement and its attachments, the deal facts, the negotiation record, and a clear account of AI assistance. Ask counsel to assess legal effect, consistency, enforceability issues, and the applicable law. The business owner must separately confirm that the obligations match what the organization can actually deliver.

The ABA guidance on generative AI↗ (opens in a new tab) discusses lawyers’ duties of competence, confidentiality, communication, and review. It does not turn generated language into legal advice or replace the rules that apply in a particular jurisdiction.

Check data handling before submission, including retention, access, and how the chosen service uses inputs. ABA Model Rule 1.6↗ (opens in a new tab) addresses confidentiality and reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized disclosure. Removing names alone may leave sensitive deal details identifiable; get the appropriate review rather than assuming redaction solves every concern.

How to do this with fenbs

1. Create a free account and add a project for the agreement. Use an approved matter identifier and avoid confidential content that your organization has not authorized you to store.
2. Record the approved drafting boundaries in Decisions and rules, including which template governs and who must review proposed language.
3. Add tasks for missing facts, clause questions, and review. Record human negotiation decisions with reasons and references to the authoritative document version.
4. Connect a supported assistant through Integrations. Ask it to read the project context before working and save progress, unresolved questions, and the next reviewer before stopping.

fenbs does not provide legal advice, certify contract compliance, or replace a document editor or contract repository. If your matter requires controls your organization has not approved for fenbs, keep that material in the authorized system. A minimal, permitted work record may still be useful, but that choice belongs to your organization.

The practical purpose of an AI brain here is continuity: the next session should know which instruction is approved and which question remains open. For more work scenarios, browse the AI at work hub, then test this workflow on one bounded drafting task before expanding it.