Review legal documents online with AI

How online legal document review works

Create a free account and upload your document. Counsl accepts PDF, Word (.docx), plain text, and photos or scans of printed pages, which are read with built-in text recognition. Long documents are read in full rather than sampled.

Lawly AI then works through the document in stages. It identifies the type of agreement and the parties, maps the obligations each side takes on, picks out the clauses that usually decide who pays when something goes wrong, scores the overall risk, and checks for dates and notice periods. Every finding is tied back to the exact wording in your document so you can check it yourself.

When the review is ready you can read the report, jump to the quoted text, ask follow-up questions in a chat about that document, export the report as PDF or Word, and set reminders for any deadlines it found.

What a review looks like

Here is a shortened version of a real Counsl report on a sample freelance agreement. Each risk is graded, quoted, explained, and paired with wording you could propose instead.

What the review checks

• A plain-English summary of the whole document and who it favours
• Payment terms: amounts, timing, late fees, and what happens if payment is withheld
• Termination: who can end the agreement, on what notice, and what is owed on exit
• Liability and indemnity: whether liability is capped, and who covers third-party claims
• Confidentiality: what counts as confidential, for how long, and the exceptions
• Intellectual property: who owns the work, licences back, and portfolio rights
• Non-compete and non-solicitation restrictions, with their scope and duration
• Auto-renewal, price increases and cancellation windows
• Governing law, jurisdiction and dispute resolution
• A 0-100 risk score with each risk quoted from your document
• Deadlines and notice periods, with optional email reminders
• A "Know your rights" explanation in plain language for non-lawyers

Which documents you can review

Counsl handles most everyday commercial and personal agreements: non-disclosure agreements, employment contracts and offer letters, freelance and consulting agreements, statements of work, master service agreements, SaaS and software licences, residential and commercial leases, rental and hostel agreements, terms and conditions, privacy policies, settlement and severance agreements, and memoranda of understanding.

If you have two versions of the same contract, the comparison tool shows clause by clause what changed and whether the change helps or hurts you.

Why review a legal document with AI first

Most people sign contracts they have not fully read, because reading a twenty-page agreement carefully takes an hour and understanding it takes legal training. The result is that unfair terms - uncapped liability, one-sided termination, automatic renewals, broad non-competes - are discovered only when they cause a problem.

An AI review does not replace legal advice, but it changes what you walk into a negotiation knowing. You can see in a minute whether the document is standard or unusual, which three clauses deserve attention, and what a more balanced version would say. For in-house teams, it is a fast triage step that lets lawyers spend their time on the contracts that actually need them.

Accuracy and limits

Every finding quotes the wording it is based on, so you never have to take the review on trust - click through and read the clause yourself. Counsl explains how clauses usually work; it does not know the full facts of your situation or every local rule. For a decision with real legal or financial consequences, use the report to prepare for a conversation with a qualified lawyer.

Who uses Counsl

In-house lawyers use it for a quick first pass on incoming vendor and customer contracts. Founders and freelancers use it before signing client and supplier agreements. Students, first-time employees and renters use it to understand their first offer letter or lease before they commit.