NDA review legal request template for In-House Legal Teams

Table of Contents

About the NDA intake form template

In-house legal teams are crucial in reviewing Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), ensuring these essential documents adhere to applicable laws and safeguard the company's interests. They thoroughly evaluate the terms and conditions of NDAs to mitigate potential risks and liabilities, and to ensure the protection of sensitive information in alignment with the company's strategic objectives.

This NDA intake template is crafted to assist legal teams in efficiently gathering the necessary information for legal review. By standardizing the NDA intake process, in-house counsel can effectively identify and mitigate risk and reduce the need for additional follow-up. While you can easily build your own NDA intake form from scratch, Streamline AI’s template saves you time by providing you with a set of ready-to-use form questions. Customize the form for your organization and get vendor contracts finalized and executed more quickly.

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Best practices for designing a legal intake process

As companies grow, in-house legal teams face an increasing volume of legal review requests. Efficient management of these requests is crucial, and designing an effective legal intake form is just the beginning. Here are some best practices for setting up or refining a legal intake process in your in-house legal department:

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Centralize legal intake with the right tools

Centralize legal intake with the right tools: Requests can come from various channels such as email, Slack, or Salesforce. Leverage Streamline AI’s software to bring all legal request intake to one centralized place, ensuring accurate tracking and avoiding duplication. Consider how the tool integrates with existing systems to allow stakeholders to submit requests in their preferred way while maintaining central management.

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Avoid catch-all legal request forms

Specific forms tailored to different types of requests ensure relevant questions are asked, and necessary details are captured, like focusing on specific terms for software contracts. This reduces follow-ups for missing or incorrect information.

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Make it easy to choose the right type of request

How can you ensure that requestors select the right request form? While it might make sense to Legal what the different legal request types are, it may not be intuitive for someone not well-versed in legal. Ensure requesters can easily identify the appropriate form by providing clear descriptions for each form type. This helps ensure requestors are providing the right information from the start.

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Implement efficient, automatic review and approval workflows

Relying on manual routing for reviews and approvals can lead to time-consuming and error-prone processes. Streamline AI can intelligently and automatically route requests to the right person based on form inputs and then automatically route to subsequent review and approvals necessary. This frees up legal teams for more high-impact work without compromising quality.

Commonly Asked Questions

What are the key components of an NDA?

The key components of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) typically include:

Definition of Confidential Information: Specifies what information is considered confidential. This can include technical, business, financial data, or other proprietary details.
Parties to the Agreement: Identifies the disclosing and receiving parties of the confidential information.
Purpose of Disclosure: States the reason why the confidential information is being shared, often related to a potential business deal, partnership, or project.
Obligations and Duties: Outlines the responsibilities of the receiving party, including how they should handle and protect the confidential information, and restrictions on its use and further disclosure.
Duration: Specifies the time period during which the confidential information must be kept secret. This includes both the term of the agreement and the duration of the confidentiality obligation.
Exclusions from Confidentiality: Details any types of information that are not considered confidential under the agreement, such as information already publicly available or known to the receiving party independently.
Disclosure to Third Parties: Sets out the conditions under which the confidential information can be disclosed to third parties, if at all.
Return or Destruction of Information: Describes what must happen to the confidential information once the non-disclosure agreement ends or upon request, usually involving its return or destruction.‍
Remedies for Breach: Articulates the consequences or legal remedies if the confidentiality agreement is breached. This may could include injunctions, indemnification from loss caused by the breach, or other breach of contract remedies.‍
Governing Law and Jurisdiction: Specifies which state or country’s laws will govern the agreement and where any disputes will be resolved.‍
Miscellaneous Provisions: Includes standard contractual clauses such as severability, waiver, amendment, and the entire agreement.‍
Signatures: The agreement should be signed and dated by authorized representatives of all involved parties.

What should be included in an NDA review checklist?

An NDA review checklist should include the review of the following items:

Parties identification: Confirm the correct legal names and details of all parties involved.
Nature of agreement (unilateral or bilateral): Assess whether the NDA is unilateral (one party disclosing to the other) or bilateral (mutual exchange of confidential information). Determine if this structure is appropriate for the relationship and the intended purpose of the information exchange.
Definition of confidential information: Check for clear, specific definitions of what constitutes confidential information.
Purpose of disclosure: Verify the purpose for sharing confidential information is clearly stated and aligns with your business interests.
Obligations and restrictions: Review the obligations and restrictions placed on the receiving party, including how they can use the information and the measures they must take to protect it.
Duration of confidentiality: Ensure the duration for confidentiality is reasonable and practical for the type of information shared.
Exclusions from confidentiality: Look for standard exclusions, such as disclosures required by law or regulations, publicly available information, information that was independently developed, or information received from another source.
Permitted disclosures: Check for provisions for scenarios where disclosure is allowed or required, such as legal obligations or court orders.
Return or destruction of information: Ensure there are clear terms on what happens to the confidential information at the end of the agreement or upon request.
Remedies for breach: Review the consequences outlined for breaching the NDA, ensuring they are appropriate and enforceable.
Governing law and jurisdiction: Confirm that the governing law and jurisdiction are appropriate and favorable for your company.
Boilerplate clauses: Check standard clauses like amendment, severability, waiver, and entire agreement for any unusual terms.
Signatures and dates: Ensure the agreement is properly executed with signatures from authorized representatives and correct dates.
Special clauses: Look for any special or unusual clauses that may require extra attention or negotiation.
Compliance with relevant laws: Ensure the NDA is compliant with current laws and regulations, including data protection and privacy laws if applicable.
Business specific considerations: Tailor the review to any specific concerns or risks pertinent to your company's industry or the specific transaction.

Access a sample NDA review playbook from Streamline AI here.

NDA review legal request template