OGP-55 Review

First-pass review of an inbound draft

Hand it a counterparty's draft and get a clause-by-clause read-out with the points a fee earner should look at first, so the file arrives on a desk already organised rather than unread.

Check a draft against your own playbook

Give it your standard positions and it will set out the departures it identifies, separating the ones you routinely accept from the ones that need a decision. It is a starting point for the review, not a confirmation that the rest of the draft conforms.

Draft alternative wording for clauses you will not accept

Ask for a replacement clause and a short note on why it is being proposed, then accept, edit or reject it. The wording is a starting point for the person settling the document, not a final position.

Compare two versions and see what moved

Put an earlier draft and a returned draft side by side and get a list of what it identifies as added, removed or reworded, covering the schedules and definitions as well as the main body.

Extract key terms across a bundle of agreements

Pull termination rights, liability caps, indemnities, governing law, notice periods and payment terms out of a set of contracts into a single table for a portfolio or due diligence review, with clause references so each entry can be checked.

Consistency and cross-reference checking

Surface defined terms that are used but never defined, cross-references pointing at the wrong clause or schedule, inconsistent party names and numbering that has drifted after heavy amendment.

Build a client-facing issues list

Turn the review into a structured report ordered by the severity criteria you set, with each point tied back to the clause it came from so the reviewer can check it quickly.

Explain a clause in plain English

Restate a difficult provision in language a client will follow, ready for a solicitor to settle before it goes into a letter or advice note.

Understand a contract before you sign it

Get a plain-English summary of a supplier or customer agreement — what you are committing to, for how long, and what it costs to get out — so you go into the decision informed.

Review software and services terms

Check the renewal mechanism, notice window, price-increase clause, service commitments and what the agreement says happens to your data at the end of the term.

Triage routine NDAs

Sort inbound confidentiality agreements by how far they depart from your usual terms, so the ones carrying unusual restrictions reach a reviewer first — the rest still go through your normal check before signature.

Map your renewal and notice deadlines

Work through your contract file and produce a draft schedule of cancel-by dates and notice periods, with the clause references, so the dates can be checked against the contracts before they go in anyone's diary.

Compare supplier proposals on terms, not just price

Set competing agreements alongside each other and see how they differ on liability, termination, exclusivity and service commitments.

Check documents against your own template

Give it your standard engagement letter, purchase order terms or contractor agreement and it will show you the changes it finds in an incoming version.

Prepare for a conversation with your adviser

Arrive with the specific clauses and questions written down, so paid legal time is spent on judgement rather than on reading the document from scratch.

Brief your own team on what a signed contract requires

Convert an executed agreement into a draft internal note of the obligations, deadlines and reporting duties it sets out, for checking against the contract before it is circulated.

A supplier returns your master services agreement with twenty pages of tracked changes two days before signature.

OGP-55 compares the returned draft against the version you sent, sets out the changes it identifies — the schedules included — and separates the drafting tidy-ups from the changes to liability, termination and payment. Each point carries its clause reference, so the reviewer starts from that list and works out from it through the document.

An SME is asked to sign a three-year software subscription with an auto-renewal.

It sets out the renewal mechanism, the date by which notice must be given, how the price can rise, what service commitments are given and what the agreement says happens to the company's data on exit — in plain English, with the clause references, so the owner can decide what to negotiate and what to take to their solicitor.

A firm takes on a portfolio review of forty supplier contracts for a client.

It extracts the same set of terms from each agreement into one table, flags the contracts it reads as sitting outside the client's stated risk position, and produces a per-contract issues list. The fee earner works from that table and those references when reviewing the agreements, then settles the output before anything goes to the client.

Best for

• Reviewing inbound contracts against a defined playbook or standard position
• Comparing drafts, versions and amendments to see what has changed between them
• Extracting the same set of terms across a set of agreements into one table
• Producing structured issues lists and clause-referenced review notes
• Giving non-lawyers a plain-English read of what they are being asked to sign

Not the tool for

• Signing off a contract on its own — a qualified person reviews the output, which does not carry the protections of regulated advice
• Answering questions about the current state of the law or finding authorities; it works from the documents you give it
• Matters governed by the law of another jurisdiction, where local advice is needed — the platform is built for England & Wales work
• Confirming that your organisation is compliant with any regulatory or statutory obligation