Why this matters
A vendor sends a three-year contract and asks for a signature by Friday. Nobody has time to read 14 pages of legal text, so it gets signed, and the auto-renewal or the early exit fee shows up a year later.
Claude can give you a careful first read in minutes: the contract in plain English, then the risky clauses with the exact words and clause numbers, so you can check each one yourself. It is a first pass, not legal advice.
In this module you review a managed IT contract, turn the worst clauses into polite questions for the vendor, then save the review as a project so the next contract gets the same read in one line.
What you’ll build
For Harbor Lane Accounting, a made-up small accounting office: a plain-English summary of a three-year IT contract and a list of red flags (a 36-month auto-renewal, a large early exit fee, a liability cap of three months’ fees, an uncapped price increase and a one-way indemnity), each with its clause number and exact words.
An email of questions for the vendor, and a Contract review project that runs the same review on the next contract, an office lease.
What you need
- Nothing to start the practiceClaude is a practice copy, and the contract and lease are already in the practice file picker.
- A Claude account, to do it for realclaude.ai, on a plan your company allows for contracts. Check Settings, Privacy, and ask before using a personal account for work.
- The contract as a fileA PDF or Word file. For anything big or unusual, a lawyer still reviews it before you sign.
Concepts
3 ideas you’ll use in the practice.
Plain English first, then the risks
Start with a summary: who, what, how long, how much, how to leave. Read it before you ask for problems, so you know what normal looks like in this contract.
Then name the clauses to look for: auto-renewal, price increases, termination fees, limits on liability and indemnity. Ask for the clause number and the exact words for each one.
Check the quote against the contract
Exact words let you check. Open the contract, find the clause number, and confirm the text matches. If it does not, tell Claude.
Also ask what is missing. A contract with no clause on data return or service levels can be as risky as a bad clause.
Write the review once, reuse it
Put your review steps in a project’s instructions: the summary, the clauses to check, the format and the "first read, not legal advice" rule.
The next contract only needs one line ("review this one the same way"), and every contract gets the same careful read.
Practice
Do every step yourself in a practice copy of the real tool. It checks your work, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on.
Do it for real
Now repeat it in your own account. Tick each step as you go.
Quick check
3 questions to check you’ve got it.
1. Why ask for the clause number and exact words?
- It looks more official
- So you can find and check each one in the real contract
- Claude needs it to read the file
Show the answer
So you can find and check each one in the real contract. Exact words and numbers turn each red flag into something you can confirm in seconds.
2. Claude’s review finds no problems. Can you sign?
- Yes, Claude checked it
- Not on that alone: it is a first read, and anything important goes to a lawyer
- Only if the summary is short
Show the answer
Not on that alone: it is a first read, and anything important goes to a lawyer. Claude can miss things. Its review is a first pass, not legal advice.
3. What makes the next contract review faster?
- Pasting the whole first chat again
- A project whose instructions hold your review steps
- A shorter contract
Show the answer
A project whose instructions hold your review steps. With the steps in the project instructions, one line runs the same review.