What can AI automate for a Corporate Counsel?

AI can help with: First-pass review and redlining of routine NDAs and vendor agreements; Summarizing long contracts, diligence files, and regulatory texts; Drafting standard documents like engagement letters and internal policies; Extracting and comparing clauses across large document sets; Routing and tracking contract approvals through intake workflows.

What stays distinctly human for a Corporate Counsel?

Still human: Deciding how much legal and business risk the company should accept; Advising executives on judgment calls where the law is unsettled; Negotiating directly with counterparties and reading the room; Protecting privilege and handling sensitive or confidential matters; Owning the final legal advice and signing off on what goes out.

AI for Corporate Counsel: tools, prompts, and how the role is changing

The shift

How AI is changing the Corporate Counsel role

AI now drafts first-pass contracts, flags risky clauses in vendor agreements, and pulls relevant regulations across jurisdictions in minutes instead of hours. It summarizes long documents like due diligence files and board materials, and turns rough notes into clean policy language. The work that stays with you is deciding what risk the company should accept and how to advise the business.

What AI can take off your plate

First-pass review and redlining of routine NDAs and vendor agreements
Summarizing long contracts, diligence files, and regulatory texts
Drafting standard documents like engagement letters and internal policies
Extracting and comparing clauses across large document sets
Routing and tracking contract approvals through intake workflows

What stays distinctly human

Deciding how much legal and business risk the company should accept
Advising executives on judgment calls where the law is unsettled
Negotiating directly with counterparties and reading the room
Protecting privilege and handling sensitive or confidential matters
Owning the final legal advice and signing off on what goes out

Tools

Five AI tools for Corporate Counsels

Harvey

A Corporate Counsel uses Harvey to draft and review commercial contracts and run legal research grounded in the firm's own documents.

Spellbook

Spellbook works inside Microsoft Word to suggest clause edits, flag missing provisions, and benchmark terms against market standards during contract redlining.

ChatGPT

A Corporate Counsel uses ChatGPT to summarize lengthy agreements, draft internal memos, and rewrite legal points in plain English for business teams.

Ironclad

Ironclad automates contract intake, routing, and approvals so routine NDAs and order forms move through self-service playbooks without manual handling.

Kira Systems

A Corporate Counsel uses Kira to extract and compare key clauses across large document sets during due diligence and contract audits.

Prompts

Five prompts to try today

Paste these into Claude or ChatGPT and replace the bracketed parts with your own details.

1. Redline an NDA

Review this mutual NDA from the counterparty's perspective and flag clauses that are unfavorable to us. For each issue, quote the clause, explain the risk in one sentence, and propose redlined language. Our priorities are: [confidentiality term length], [carve-outs], [governing law]. Contract text: [paste NDA].

2. Summarize a contract

Summarize this agreement for a busy executive in under 250 words. Cover: parties, term and renewal, key obligations, payment terms, termination rights, liability caps, and any unusual provisions. Use plain language and a bulleted format. Contract: [paste contract].

3. Compliance research

Explain the key requirements under [regulation or law] that apply to a [company type] operating in [jurisdiction]. List obligations, deadlines, and penalties for non-compliance. Note where you are uncertain and what I should verify with outside counsel.

4. Plain-English explainer for the business

Rewrite this legal clause so a non-lawyer product manager can understand what it means and what they must do. Keep it accurate but remove jargon. Add one line on why it matters. Clause: [paste clause].

5. Board memo draft

Draft a one-page memo to the board on [issue or decision]. Include background, the legal considerations, options with pros and cons, and a recommendation. Tone should be concise and neutral. Facts: [paste facts].

A day in your inbox

This is the kind of brief a Corporate Counsel gets, every weekday morning.

The Morning Current

Weekday morning

✦ Personalized for: Corporate Counsel

Today's Tool

Reviewing a vendor agreement

Load the draft into Spellbook inside Word to flag missing indemnity and liability provisions and benchmark the terms against typical market language. It gives you a starting redline you can refine in minutes.

Today's Prompt

Find the risk fast

Paste the agreement into ChatGPT with: 'List the five clauses in this contract that pose the most risk to us as the customer, quote each one, and explain the risk in plain language. Contract: [paste].'

Today's Trick

Always verify citations

When AI cites a statute, case, or regulation, treat it as a lead and confirm it in a primary source before relying on it. Models can invent authority that looks real.

AI for Corporate Counsels