The Law To Know

Module 1

What contract analytics is, and the contract data model

By the end of this module you can say what contract analytics is, choose the fields worth recording from a contract, write a definition for each, and fill in a data sheet from the right clause without borrowing a number from the wrong one.

Part 1. The lecture

What contract analytics is

Contract analytics means turning contracts into structured data so that you can answer questions about many contracts at once. Which ones end in the next six months? Which renew by themselves? How many have no cap on liability? How long do our customers take to pay under the contract, as against what the contract says?

None of this needs special software to understand. Software can help to extract and store the data, but every useful result rests on three human decisions: what to record, how to define it, and how to check it. This course is about those decisions.

The core fields

A small set of fields answers most of the questions a legal team is asked:

  • Parties and contract type.
  • Term: the end of the current term, whether it renews automatically, the length of each renewal, and the notice needed to stop a renewal.
  • Money: annual value and its currency, and payment terms in days.
  • Risk terms: the liability cap (as a multiple of fees, or uncapped), termination rights and assignment.
  • Governing law and where disputes are resolved.

Start from the questions you need to answer, and record only what serves them. Every extra field must be filled in, checked and kept up to date, and a long sheet that is half empty is worse than a short one that is right.

Every field needs a definition

“Notice period” is not a field. It is a word. A field is: the number of days before the end of the current term by which written notice must be given to prevent automatic renewal. That definition says what is counted, from when, and for what. With it, two people reading two contracts will record the same thing.

Write down, for each field: the definition, the unit (days, dollars, a multiple of fees), what to enter when the contract is silent, and a worked example.

Not stated is an answer

A contract may have no liability cap, or it may say nothing and leave the question to the general law, or you may simply not have found the clause. These are three different facts. Record them as uncapped, not stated in the contract and not yet recorded. If blanks are read as “no”, any share you report is quietly wrong, a problem Module 7 returns to.

Take each value from the right clause, and keep the reference

  • Do not borrow numbers. A 30-day breach-remedy period is not the renewal notice period, even if it is the only 30 in sight.
  • Check the unit. A quarterly instalment is not the annual price.
  • Pick a convention for dates (the last day of a three-year term that starts on 1 March 2024 is 28 February 2027) and use it every time.
  • Record the clause reference next to each value, so anyone can verify it in seconds.

If software or an AI tool filled in the sheet, you must still check a random sample against the source, using the methods in Checking Legal AI Tools.

Part 2. Lab: Contract Data Sheet

Read the supply agreement between Alderwick Exports (Buyer) and Fenmoor Packaging Ltd (Supplier). Then fill in the data sheet the way a contract analyst would: one value per field, taken from the right clause.

  1. 1.Term. This agreement starts on 1 March 2024 and continues for 3 years. It then renews automatically for successive periods of 12 months unless a party gives at least 60 days' written notice before the end of the then-current term.
  2. 2.Price. Buyer shall pay Supplier $180,000 per year, in four equal quarterly instalments.
  3. 3.Payment. Each invoice is payable within 45 days of receipt.
  4. 4.Liability. Supplier's total liability under this agreement is limited to the fees paid in the 12 months before the claim arose.
  5. 5.Governing law. The laws of England and Wales govern this agreement.
  6. 6.Assignment. Neither party may assign this agreement without the other party's prior written consent.
  7. 7.Termination. Either party may terminate this agreement if the other commits a material breach and fails to remedy it within 30 days of written notice.

Part 3. Check your understanding

Ten questions drawn from a larger pool. In this pilot your score is shown but not saved.

Loading quiz…

This course teaches how to turn contracts into reliable data, using invented contracts, fictional parties and made-up figures. No real contracts or tools are used, and nothing here is legal advice. Never paste a real client’s confidential contracts into a public tool.