Check contract clauses and NDAs against your playbook
Reads a clause, or a whole NDA, against your playbook: the position, who it favours, terms a lawyer must see. It never approves or redlines a contract.
Try it on this example
Clause heading as written, or the agreement title: Mutual Confidentiality Agreement
Our side (Customer, Supplier, Disclosing party, Receiving party, or Both): Receiving party
One clause, or a whole short agreement such as an NDA
- What kind of contract text is this, by what it does rather than its heading?Whole agreement98%
- How does this contract text compare with the playbook position for its type, from our side?Outside playbook99%
- Taken as a whole, whose interests does this contract text serve?Them100%
- Does the contract text leave our liability unlimited for a kind of claim the playbook does not accept as uncapped?No61%
- Does the contract text bind us to a non-solicitation, non-compete, exclusivity or standstill obligation?Yes99%
- Does the contract text set fixed or liquidated damages, or a penalty, for a breach by us?Yes98%
- Does the contract text let the recipient use confidential information it keeps in memory?No89%
- Does the contract text contain all four standard exclusions from confidential information?One or more missing100%
- How long do the confidentiality obligations in the contract text last?No end100%
- Does the contract text choose a governing law or court outside the list the playbook allows?Yes99%
- Does the meaning of the contract text turn on a definition, schedule or clause that is not included here?No90%
- Who should review this contract text before we accept it?Lawyer94%
These are real answers stored from one run on this example.
The prism behind it
Check contract clauses and NDAs against your playbook
Fields
- Clause heading as written, or the agreement title
- One clause, or a whole short agreement such as an NDA
- Our side (Customer, Supplier, Disclosing party, Receiving party, or Both)
Context
We are Brightfield Software B.V., a software company. Counterparties send us their own contracts: customer agreements, supplier agreements, data processing agreements and NDAs. The text is either one clause, split out by our contract tool by its numbering, or a whole short agreement such as an NDA. Judge it against the playbook below, from our side as given in "our_role". The answers sort the review queue. A person approves every signature, and nothing here drafts or changes a contract. Numbers: the size of a cap, a notice period in days, a confidentiality period in years. Our code reads and compares these. Judge only what the playbook says in words: mutual or one-sided, capped or uncapped, which carve-outs, which law. Playbook positions. - Limitation of liability. Preferred: a mutual cap that binds both parties the same way, with only fraud, death or personal injury, and breach of confidentiality left uncapped. Fallback: a higher cap for the supplier on data protection breaches. Outside: any uncapped liability for us beyond those carve-outs; a cap that protects only the other side; loss of data excluded where the supplier hosts our data. - Indemnity. Preferred: mutual indemnities for third-party intellectual property claims only. Fallback: a one-way indemnity from us limited to third-party claims caused by our breach, within the cap. Outside: an indemnity from us for all losses, for the other side's own negligence, or outside the cap. - Termination. Preferred: mutual rights to terminate for material breach after a cure period, and for insolvency. Outside: a right to terminate for convenience that only the other side has. - Term and renewal. Preferred: a fixed term with renewal only by agreement. Fallback: automatic renewal with a notice window to stop it. Outside: renewal we cannot stop. - Payment. Preferred: payment within the period in our order form, no set-off. Outside: price changes the other side can make alone. - Confidentiality and NDAs. Preferred: mutual obligations. Fallback: one-way, protecting the other side, when we only receive information. The four standard exclusions must all be present: information that is public, already known to the recipient, independently developed, or lawfully received from a third party. The obligations end after a fixed period; trade secrets may stay protected for as long as they remain secret. Outside: obligations that never end for all information; any exclusion missing; fixed or liquidated damages or a penalty for breach; an indemnity for breach. - Residuals. Outside in every case: a right for the recipient to use information kept in memory. - Restrictive covenants. Outside in every case: non-solicitation of staff, non-compete, exclusivity or standstill obligations on us, wherever they appear in the text. - Intellectual property. Preferred: each party keeps its background IP; we own our software and improvements to it. Outside: any assignment of our IP to the other side. - Data protection. Follows our separate data protection playbook. Mark as playbook silent here. - Governing law and courts. Allowed: England and Wales, Ireland or the Netherlands, with their courts. Outside: any other law or court. - Boilerplate (notices, counterparts, entire agreement, severability). Accept unless it hides one of the terms above. Review levels. - No review: every term matches the preferred position. A person still approves the signature. - Contracts manager: every term is preferred or within fallback, or the only gaps are ones the playbook lets a contracts manager fix (a missing exclusion, one-way to mutual, a renewal notice window). - Lawyer: any term outside the playbook, a restrictive covenant, residuals, fixed damages, an indemnity from us, or a law or court outside the allowed list. - General counsel: uncapped liability for us beyond the carve-outs, or an assignment of our IP.
Questions
What kind of contract text is this, by what it does rather than its heading? Choice
Judge by what the text does. A heading such as "Miscellaneous" can hide a restrictive covenant. If the text is a whole agreement rather than one clause, pick Whole agreement.
How does this contract text compare with the playbook position for its type, from our side? Choice
Use the playbook in the context and our side as given in our_role. Leave numbers to code, as the context says. For a whole agreement, judge by its worst term.
Taken as a whole, whose interests does this contract text serve? Choice
Judge from our side as given in our_role.
Does the contract text leave our liability unlimited for a kind of claim the playbook does not accept as uncapped? Yes / No
Count an indemnity or liability for "all losses" with no limit, or a carve-out from the cap that lands on us beyond the carve-outs in the playbook. Fixed or liquidated damages are judged by their own question. Yes: Some liability of ours has no upper limit, beyond what the playbook accepts. No: Our liability is capped, or uncapped only where the playbook accepts it, or the text sets no liability of ours. An agreement with no liability clause, where our only exposure is for breach of confidentiality, is No.
Does the contract text bind us to a non-solicitation, non-compete, exclusivity or standstill obligation? Yes / No
Read every part of the text, including sections headed "Miscellaneous" or "General". Count an obligation on us, however it is worded, such as "shall not directly or indirectly solicit for employment". Yes: The text puts at least one such obligation on us. No: The text puts no such obligation on us.
Does the contract text set fixed or liquidated damages, or a penalty, for a breach by us? Yes / No
Count a stated sum payable for a breach, "liquidated damages", a penalty or a service credit that works as one. Ordinary damages or a right to seek an injunction do not count. Yes: The text sets a fixed sum or a penalty payable by us for a breach. No: The text sets no fixed sum or penalty payable by us.
Does the contract text let the recipient use confidential information it keeps in memory? Yes / No
A residuals clause lets the recipient use ideas, know-how or information retained in the unaided memory of its staff. Yes: The text contains a residuals right for either party. No: The text contains no such right.
Does the contract text contain all four standard exclusions from confidential information? Choice
The four exclusions are in the playbook: public, already known to the recipient, independently developed, and lawfully received from a third party. Count an exclusion however it is worded.
How long do the confidentiality obligations in the contract text last? Choice
Judge the words, not the number of years: code compares any fixed period with the playbook.
Does the contract text choose a governing law or court outside the list the playbook allows? Yes / No
Use the allowed list in the context. Count arbitration seated outside those countries as outside. Yes: The text names a law or court not on the allowed list. No: The text names only allowed laws and courts, or names none.
Does the meaning of the contract text turn on a definition, schedule or clause that is not included here? Yes / No
Count a cross-reference that changes what the text means, such as "subject to clause 12.3" or a defined term whose definition is missing. A whole agreement that defines its own terms does not depend on other text. Yes: The text cannot be judged fully without another part of the contract. No: The text can be judged as it stands.
Who should review this contract text before we accept it? Choice
Use the review levels in the context. Pick the highest level that any term in the text needs.
Lens columns
clause_type, clause_type_probability, playbook_position, playbook_position_probability, favours, favours_probability, uncapped_exposure, uncapped_exposure_probability, restrictive_covenant, restrictive_covenant_probability, fixed_damages_or_penalty, fixed_damages_or_penalty_probability, residuals_clause, residuals_clause_probability, confidentiality_exclusions, confidentiality_exclusions_probability, confidentiality_duration, confidentiality_duration_probability, law_outside_playbook, law_outside_playbook_probability, depends_on_other_text, depends_on_other_text_probability, review_level, review_level_probability
Run it on your own text
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