Review, polish or negotiate

How document review works in Laine: what you upload, the kind of pass you ask for, and what comes back before you send your comments.

Feature guide

DURATION

5 MINUTES

TYPE

Article

TOPIC

Reviewing

Explore What’s Possible with Laine.

Legal AI that holds itself to the standards of the profession.

Request a Demo

Overview

A review in Laine starts with the document in front of you. You upload it, choose the kind of pass you need, and say which party you are representing. From there Laine works through the whole file, clause by clause, and reports what it finds.

The same document can be read three different ways depending on what you are trying to do with it, so the first choice is how Laine should work rather than what it should look for.

Running a review

Seven steps from upload to analysis

Upload the document

Bring in a new file from your device, or pick one that is already in My Documents.

Choose how Laine should work

Review, Polish my draft, or Markup and Negotiate. Each one changes what comes back, and the next section covers the difference.

Apply a playbook

Laine reads the document against your own recorded positions, clause by clause, so a deviation is measured against your standard rather than a generic one. A playbook from the Laine Library can be used instead if you do not have one of your own.

Pick the analysis

When you choose Review, Laine offers a full legal analysis, risk and liability mapping, investment fund analysis, market standard analysis, a closing checklist, or a pass for unfilled placeholders.

Say which party you are representing

The analysis tone, negotiation priorities, and risk emphasis are adapted to your selection, so the same clause reads differently depending on the side you are on.

Add reference documents, if there are any

Side letters, amendments, board resolutions, or internal policies can be attached with the paperclip button below the chat input, up to five PDF or Word files. If there are none, you go straight to topic selection. Laine asks which topics you want the review to focus on, or you can type a particular question instead, and the analysis is run against what you select.

Start the review

Now is a good time for a cup of coffee. Laine works through the document the way a trusted assistant would, checking it against your selections, flagging what it finds, and picking up issues you did not think to ask about.

Three ways to read a document

Pick your mode: Review, polish, or negotiate

All three read the same document. What differs is the output: an assessment, a cleaner version of your own draft, or a marked-up copy you can send back.

Review

For an assessment of where a document stands. Laine reads it against your playbook and market practice and reports the issues, with a severity level and the clause each one came from.

Polish my draft

For your own draft before it goes out. Defined terms, cross-references, numbering, and language are tightened without changing your positions.

Markup & negotiate

For a document that is still being negotiated. Laine proposes redlines and fallback language from the position of the party you represent, ready to send to the other side.

The mode is set when the review starts, so it is worth being clear about what you need before you begin. If the document is coming back to you from the other side, markup and negotiate is usually the one to pick.

What the review returns

Flags you can act on

Risk flagged with a severity

Each issue carries a severity level, so a missing cap on liability does not sit in the same list as an inconsistent defined term.

Missing clauses called out

Laine reports what the document should contain for its type and jurisdiction and does not, which is harder to catch than a badly drafted clause that is present.

A summary memo of the issues

The findings come together as a memo you can read, edit, and pass on, with each point linked back to the clause it came from.

The analysis opens in the Word-like editor as its own file, with every flagged issue and risk in place and its severity level marked, so the outcome is a document you can work in rather than a chat reply to scroll back through.

Alongside it, the chat offers two ways to go further into the document: Review key risks and Check for inconsistencies.

Review key risks

Laine reads the whole document first, then adds an inline comment on the document for each risk it finds, so every point sits next to the clause it belongs to.

The same findings are summarised in the chat as Summary of main risks and pre-signing resolutions. The focus stays on what matters for signing or negotiation rather than minor drafting preferences.

How to ask

Laine will ask for anything it is missing, but a request that names the side you are on and the outcome you care about lands closer. These are the kinds of requests that work well.

Risk pass

“Review this share purchase agreement for Yarnwell Ventures as buyer. Flag anything on liability, indemnities, and the warranty package that sits outside market standard.”

Names the side, the document, and the three areas to weigh first.

Against a playbook

“Check this services agreement against our playbook. I care most about payment terms, IP ownership, and termination rights, in that order.”

Points Laine at your recorded positions and ranks what matters.

Closing readiness

“Run a closing checklist on this loan pack for Knitloop Labs Ltd and list every unfilled placeholder and unsigned schedule.”

Asks for a specific analysis rather than a general read.

Shorter is fine too. “Review this NDA for Tumbleweed Holdings as the disclosing party” is enough to start, and Laine collects the rest through its questions.

Still have questions? Our team is happy to help. Write to support@laine.ai.

You might wanna see these

All Editing Legal research Playbooks

Editing

Clause edits, consistency, redlining and export

4 Minutes, article

Extended Legal Research

Case law, citations and research-to-memo