Is artificial intelligence really about to change the way lawyers review contracts—or is it just another overhyped trend? For many in-house legal teams, the real question isn’t whether AI will affect their work. Instead, it is how. AI contract review for in-house lawyers has the potential to reduce hours of manual work, improve accuracy, and free up time for more strategic tasks. However, realizing that potential requires more than flashy software. It takes collaboration, thoughtful data, and a deep understanding of how legal work actually gets done.
One person at the center of this movement is Wei Chen, a practicing attorney and founder of The Atticus Project. Her work is reshaping how we think about AI in legal workflows, not just by building tools that aid in AI contract review. Wei Chen is also addressing the core problem AI needs to solve: a lack of high-quality legal data.
Watch the full conversation with Wei Chen here:
From Contract Review Frustration to AI Innovation for In-House Lawyers
Wei’s journey began like many in-house lawyers’ stories do—with a time-consuming stack of contracts and too few hours in the day. She explored off-the-shelf AI tools to help with contract review but quickly hit a wall. The technology simply wasn’t accurate enough for the demands of AI contract review for in-house lawyers. The issue? A lack of well-labeled, standardized legal data to train it.
Instead of walking away, Wei launched The Atticus Project—a collaborative effort to build and open-source robust legal datasets. Her goal was to give AI researchers the high-quality material they need. This material aims to improve how machines understand legal language, obligations, and risk allocation in commercial agreements, particularly for in-house lawyers who rely on AI contract review.
Why Data and Collaboration Matter in AI Contract Review for In-House Lawyers
The brilliance of The Atticus Project isn’t just in the technology; it’s in the people behind it. A team of lawyers and law students worked together to annotate hundreds of real-world commercial contracts. Then, they made it public. Free and open-source. It was a bold move in a profession that often guards information closely.
But this openness is precisely what makes the project so powerful. By sharing these annotated contracts, The Atticus Project invites technologists, legal professionals, and in-house teams to work together. This collaboration improves AI contract review for in-house legal teams across the board.
Solving Legal Data Challenges in AI Contract Review
One of the biggest barriers to adopting AI in legal work is the profession’s complexity. Legal language is nuanced, context-heavy, and often inconsistent across industries. Wei argues that the profession must take responsibility for creating and refining the data AI needs, especially in areas like AI contract review tailored for in-house lawyers. Without this initiative, we’ll be stuck with tools that don’t meet our needs.
She encourages legal professionals—especially in-house lawyers—to actively engage in this process. This engagement could mean contributing to datasets, clarifying how certain clauses should be interpreted, or simply advocating for more transparency. It’s a chance to shape the tools that will soon transform AI contract review for their work.
The Road Ahead
Wei is hopeful about what’s next. As more legal teams adopt and engage with these technologies, we’ll see smarter, more adaptable AI, particularly enhancing AI contract review for in-house legal experts. This innovation will create not just tools that speed up review, but also systems that help lawyers identify risk, surface trends, and prioritize what matters most.
AI contract review for in-house lawyers isn’t just a tool—it’s a movement. With the right mix of people, purpose, and data, it can transform not only how contracts are reviewed but how legal teams contribute to the business. The future of legal tech will be written by those who build it. Additionally, it will be shaped by those brave enough to help teach it.
Watch the full conversation here: Notes to My (Legal) Self: Season 4, Episode 12 (ft. Wei Chen)
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