Playbooks

Last updated on Dec 07, 2025

Playbooks are your organisation's standardised clause libraries - collections of pre-approved legal language that ensure consistency, reduce risk, and enable self-service contracting.

What is a Playbook?

A Playbook is a structured collection of legal clauses with standard positions, alternative language, and fallback options. Think of it as a menu of pre-approved legal language that can be mixed and matched to create contracts quickly while maintaining your organisation's standards.

Example: An "NDA Playbook" might include:

  • Standard confidentiality clause (preferred language)

  • Fallback option 1 (less restrictive, for vendors)

  • Fallback option 2 (more restrictive, for sensitive data)

  • Not acceptable terms (what never to agree to)

  • Guidance (when to use each option)

Why Use Playbooks?

For Legal Teams

  • Consistency - Same language used across all contracts

  • Efficiency - No need to draft from scratch every time

  • Scalability - Enable business self-service safely

  • Knowledge capture - Preserve institutional knowledge

  • Quality control - Pre-approved by legal reduces risk

For Business Teams

  • Self-service - Handle standard contracts without legal bottleneck

  • Clear guidance - Know what's acceptable and what's not

  • Faster deals - Reduce legal review time from days to hours

  • Confidence - Trust you're using approved language

  • Escalation clarity - Know when you need legal review


Accessing Playbooks

  1. Click "Playbooks" in the left sidebar

  2. Or navigate to /playbooks

  3. View all playbooks in your organisation

[SCREENSHOT: Playbooks page with playbook cards]


Playbook Components

Clauses

The core building blocks of a playbook.

Each clause contains:

1. Title - Clear, descriptive name


Example: "Limitation of Liability - Cap at Fees Paid"

2. Standard Text - Your preferred language


Example: "IN NO EVENT SHALL EITHER PARTY'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY

EXCEED THE TOTAL FEES PAID IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING

THE CLAIM."

3. Fallback Texts - Alternative versions (numbered)


Fallback 1: Cap at 2x fees paid

Fallback 2: Cap at $100,000

Fallback 3: Cap at $50,000

4. Not Acceptable Terms - What to never agree to


Examples:

- "Unlimited liability"

- "Liability exceeding 5x fees paid"

- "No liability cap"

5. Tags - Categorization


Examples: liability, financial, vendor-contracts

6. Guidance - When and how to use


Example: "Use standard text for enterprise customers.

Use Fallback 1 for mid-market. Never agree to unlimited

liability without CFO approval."

Clause Alternatives

Additional versions beyond fallbacks:

  • Different legal approaches to same goal

  • Jurisdiction-specific variations

  • Industry-specific requirements

  • Risk-level adaptations

Documents

Sample contracts associated with the playbook:

  • Best-in-class executed agreements

  • Templates built from the playbook

  • Reference materials

  • Historical versions


Creating a Playbook

Step 1: Basic Information

  1. Click "Create Playbook" (top-right)

  2. Enter playbook details:

  • Name - Clear, descriptive (e.g., "Vendor Services Agreement")

  • Description - Purpose and scope

  • Optional: Tags for organisation

  1. Click "Create"

[SCREENSHOT: Create playbook dialog]

Step 2: Add Clauses

Two ways to add clauses:

Option A: Manual Creation

  1. Click "Add Clause"

  2. Fill in clause details:

  • Title

  • Standard text

  • Fallback texts (optional)

  • Not acceptable terms (optional)

  • Tags

  • Guidance

  1. Click "Save Clause"

[SCREENSHOT: Add clause form]

Option B: AI-Powered Extraction

Use document analysis to extract clauses automatically:

  1. Click "analyse Documents"

  2. Select documents to analyse (uploaded to Vault)

  3. Click "Start Analysis"

  4. Wait for AI to extract clauses (30-120 seconds)

  5. Review suggested clauses

  6. Accept, reject, or edit each one

  7. Accepted clauses are added to playbook

See Tutorial: analyse Documents for Clauses for detailed guide.

[SCREENSHOT: Document analysis interface]

Step 3: Organize and Refine

  1. Reorder clauses - Drag and drop to logical sequence

  2. Group by tags - Use consistent tagging

  3. Add alternatives - Provide options for different scenarios

  4. Document guidance - Help users know when to use each clause

  5. Attach reference docs - Link to best examples

Step 4: Publish

  1. Toggle "Published" to make available

  2. Unpublished playbooks are drafts (only you can see)

  3. Published playbooks are visible to your organisation

  4. Business users can only use published playbooks


Using the Marketplace

The Marketplace provides ready-to-use playbook templates created by legal experts.

Browsing Templates

  1. From Playbooks page, click "Browse Marketplace"

  2. Browse available templates:

  • Featured templates

  • By category (NDA, Employment, Services, etc.)

  • By industry

  • By complexity

  1. Click on a template to preview

[SCREENSHOT: Marketplace with template cards]

Template Information

Each template shows:

  • Name and description

  • Author - Who created it

  • Use count - How many organisations use it

  • Clauses included - Number and categories

  • Featured badge - Recommended templates

  • Preview - Sample clauses

Adding a Template

  1. Click on a template to open details

  2. Review included clauses

  3. Click "Add to My Playbooks"

  4. Template is copied to your organisation

  5. You can now view and use it (but not edit directly)

Important: Marketplace templates are read-only. To customize, you must fork them.

Forking a Template

To create an editable copy:

  1. Find the template in your Playbooks list

  2. Click the fork icon (branching icon)

  3. Enter new playbook name

  4. Optionally modify description

  5. Click "Create Fork"

  6. You now have an editable copy

  7. Customize clauses as needed

[SCREENSHOT: Fork playbook dialog]

When to fork:

  • You want to customize clauses

  • Add your company-specific terms

  • Remove clauses you don't need

  • Adapt for your industry/jurisdiction


Managing Playbooks

Editing Playbooks

What you can edit:

Own playbooks:

  • All components (name, description, clauses, etc.)

  • Full control

Forked playbooks:

  • All components

  • Maintains link to original template

Marketplace templates (not forked):

  • Cannot edit directly

  • Must fork first to modify

Editing Process

  1. Click on playbook to open details

  2. Click "Edit" button (if editable)

  3. Make changes:

  • Edit playbook name/description

  • Add/remove/edit clauses

  • Reorder clauses

  • Update tags

  1. Changes save automatically

Deleting Playbooks

  1. Open playbook details

  2. Click "Delete" button

  3. Confirm deletion

  4. Playbook and all clauses are removed

Warning: Cannot be undone. Associated documents remain in Vault but lose playbook association.

Sharing Playbooks

Within your organisation:

  • Published playbooks automatically visible to all members

  • Unpublished playbooks are private drafts

Outside your organisation:

  • Coming soon: Share playbooks with other organisations

  • For now: Export and manually share


Working with Clauses

Clause Order

Clauses appear in the order you create them. Reorder for logical flow:

Typical contract structure:

  1. Definitions

  2. Scope of services/work

  3. Payment terms

  4. Term and termination

  5. Confidentiality

  6. IP and ownership

  7. Warranties and disclaimers

  8. Limitation of liability

  9. Indemnification

  10. General provisions

Clause Categories

Use tags to categorise:

Common categories:

  • Financial: payment, pricing, fees, invoicing

  • Liability: limitation, indemnification, insurance

  • IP: ownership, licenses, work-for-hire

  • Termination: notice periods, termination rights

  • Confidentiality: NDA terms, data protection

  • General: force majeure, governing law, notices

Clause Versioning

Track changes over time:

  • Date added - Automatically tracked

  • Last modified - Updates with each edit

  • Version notes - Add in description field

  • Historical docs - Keep old versions in associated documents


Best Practices

For Legal Teams

Building playbooks:

  1. Start with your best contracts - Upload top 10 executed agreements

  2. Extract common clauses - Use AI to identify patterns

  3. Standardise language - Create one preferred version

  4. Add fallbacks strategically - 2-3 fallbacks per clause is enough

  5. Document the "why" - Add guidance for each clause

  6. Get team input - Review with other lawyers

  7. Test with business users - Ensure it's usable

Organising playbooks:

  • By contract type: NDA Playbook, MSA Playbook, etc.

  • By counterparty type: Vendor Playbook, Customer Playbook

  • By department: Sales Playbook, Procurement Playbook, HR Playbook

Maintaining playbooks:

  • Review quarterly for relevance

  • Update when legal landscape changes

  • Remove outdated clauses

  • Gather feedback from users

  • Track which clauses are most used

For Business Users

Using playbooks:

  1. Choose the right playbook - Match to contract type

  2. Start with standard text - Use preferred language first

  3. Escalate at red flags - Check "not acceptable" terms

  4. Use guidance notes - Understand when to use each option

  5. Ask legal when unsure - Better safe than sorry

Self-service boundaries:

  • ✅ Use standard text as-is

  • ✅ Choose from provided fallbacks

  • ✅ Follow guidance notes

  • ⚠️ Combining clauses from different playbooks - check with legal

  • ⚠️ Modifying clause text - requires legal review

  • ❌ Accepting "not acceptable" terms - always escalate


Advanced Features

Playbook Prompts (Admin only)

Customize how AI generates content from playbooks:

  1. Go to Playbook Settings

  2. Edit "Clause Generation Prompt"

  3. Modify how AI interprets your clauses

  4. Test with sample generation

  5. Save changes

Use cases:

  • Add company-specific context

  • Emphasise certain legal positions

  • Adjust for industry terminology

  • Improve AI understanding

Playbook Analytics

Track playbook usage:

  • Which clauses are most used

  • Which fallbacks are selected most often

  • How often playbooks are accessed

  • User feedback and ratings

[ASSUMPTION: Analytics feature available or planned]

Clause Suggestions

AI can suggest improvements:

  • Missing clauses (comparing to industry standards)

  • Alternative language (from analysed documents)

  • Inconsistencies (conflicting guidance)

  • Updates (based on legal changes)


Collaboration

Multi-User Editing

Concurrent editing:

  • Multiple users can view playbook simultaneously

  • Editing locks single clause at a time

  • Last save wins on conflicts (manual merge needed)

Best practices:

  • Communicate before major edits

  • Work on different clauses simultaneously

  • Use draft mode for experimental changes

Comments and Feedback

On clauses:

  • Add internal notes

  • Request review from colleagues

  • Track change rationale

On playbooks:

  • Overall feedback

  • Suggestions for improvement

  • Usage questions

[ASSUMPTION: Commenting feature exists or is planned]


Integration with Other Features

With AI Assistant

Playbooks enhance AI responses:

  • AI uses playbook language in drafted documents

  • Suggests playbook clauses when relevant

  • Flags deviations from playbook standards

Enable: Turn on "Include Playbooks" when drafting

With Guardrails

Guardrails enforce playbook usage:

  • Require playbook clauses for certain contract types

  • Flag when non-playbook language is used

  • Trigger escalation if "not acceptable" terms appear

See Guardrails feature guide

With Chrome Extension

Analyse contracts against your playbooks directly in Google Docs:

  • Select a playbook to analyse the document against

  • Get AI suggestions that align with your playbook standards

  • See deviations from your standard clauses highlighted

  • Apply policy-aligned changes with explanations

The Chrome Extension uses your playbook clauses, fallback positions, and "not acceptable" terms to generate relevant suggestions for each contract you review.

See Chrome Extension guide


Troubleshooting

Can't create playbook

Check:

  • You need Legal or Admin functional role

  • organisation limit reached (contact support)

  • Browser permissions

Document analysis not working

Verify:

  • Documents are uploaded and indexed

  • At least one document selected

  • Documents contain legal clauses (not invoices, etc.)

  • Wait for processing to complete

Clauses not appearing

Possible causes:

  • Playbook not published

  • Filter applied

  • Clauses saved as draft

  • Refresh page to reload

Can't edit marketplace template

This is expected: Marketplace templates are read-only

Solution: Fork the template to create editable copy


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