Ep 278: Standardizing Legal Agreements: How OneNDA and OneSaaS Aim to Transform Business Contracting

When it comes to contract negotiations, lawyers often find themselves spending countless hours haggling over standard agreements such as NDAs and SaaS contracts, with both sides often saying more or less the same thing, but in different words. What if there was a better way? 

Today’s guests believe there is. Electra Japonas, chief legal officer at Law Insider and founder of the successful oneNDA initiative, and Preston Clark, Law Insider president, are on a mission to revolutionize contract negotiations by developing and open-sourcing a suite of standard agreements.

They started with oneNDA, which has been adopted by over 6,000 organizations and used in an estimated 10 million agreements annually, and they have just launched their oneSaaS standard. Now, they are setting their sights on developing a full library of standard, open-source agreements.

Japonas shares how her experience as a lawyer at the European Space Agency initially shaped her vision for contract standardization, and she explains the methodology behind the development of oneSaaS, which involved analysis of nearly 1,000 existing agreements and incorporated feedback from hundreds of legal professionals and SaaS providers. 

Clark joins midway through the show to discuss Law Insider's plans to build a comprehensive ecosystem of standardized agreements, supported by AI-powered contract automation technology. He outlines how the company plans to transform routine contract work while maintaining its commitment to keeping these standards freely available to the legal community.

This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out. 

• Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks.

• Briefpoint, eliminating routine discovery response and request drafting tasks so you can focus on drafting what matters (or just make it home for dinner).

• LEX Reception, Never miss a call, with expert answering service for Lawyers.

If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.