AI for Legal, Finance & Operations · Lesson 1
Working with contracts
How to speed up contract review and lower risk while keeping a lawyer in the loop.
What we hand to AI
- The first read-through of a contract.
- A one-page summary.
- A comparison against a reference template.
- A list of deviations with a risk level.
- Translation and localization.
What we do NOT hand to AI
- The final legal opinion.
- The signature.
- The negotiation process.
Review template
- AI: "what the contract is about" in one paragraph.
- AI: a list of the key clauses (price, terms, liability, termination, IP, confidentiality, jurisdiction).
- AI: a list of non-standard clauses or deviations from the template.
- AI: red flags phrased as questions for the lawyer.
- The lawyer makes the decisions.
Security
- Confidential contracts go only into models with appropriate data-processing terms.
- Prefer Pro/Enterprise plans with a no-training option.
- Don't paste a contract into a shared chat where the data could leak.
Practical exercise
What to do after this lesson
Take a contract template and a real contract. Run them through Claude. Get a list of deviations and red flags.
Task grader
Take a contract template and a real contract. Run them through Claude. Get a list of deviations and red flags.
Ready-to-use prompt
Template for this lesson
Copy and adapt to your context. Text in angle brackets should be replaced.
(Use ops-contract-summary from the library) Contract: <…> Reference template: <…> Additionally: 1. List the deviations from the template. 2. Rate the risk of each: low / medium / high. 3. Formulate 5 questions for the lawyer.
Prompt sandbox
Common mistakes
What people get wrong
- Treating the AI summary as the final opinion.
- Uploading contracts into a shared chat.
- Ignoring local specifics (jurisdiction).
Pro tips
What works but no one documents
- Reference template + diff is the strongest workflow.
- "A list of questions for the lawyer" instead of "a list of decisions".
- Version your summaries — useful for audit.
When to use
Any contract work other than signing.
When not to use
A final legal opinion without a lawyer.
Quiz — 2 questions
1.What do we NOT hand to AI in legal work?
2.Where is it safe to work with sensitive contracts?
Answered: 0 of 2
Discussion
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