BizDraft is a drafting tool. It's genuinely useful for most standard service agreements. But some deals need an attorney — and we'd rather tell you clearly than oversell the tool.
Honest about when we're not enough.
Three signals
Not every engagement needs a lawyer. These three signals reliably indicate when one does.
There's no universal threshold, but when the contract value is large enough that a dispute would be financially significant, an attorney's review cost is justified. If losing this deal — or a dispute about it — would matter materially to your business, the $300–$500 for a contract review is cheap insurance.
Healthcare, financial services, real estate, employment, construction — these industries have specific regulatory requirements that standard contract drafting doesn't fully capture. State licensing requirements, disclosure obligations, and compliance clauses in regulated industries need practitioner-level knowledge, not general AI defaults.
If the counterparty has legal representation and you don't, you're negotiating on unequal footing. Their attorney will review the agreement for their client's interests. You should have someone reviewing it for yours. This isn't about the document — it's about the negotiation dynamic.
Deal-by-deal guidance
Honest assessment by deal type. Neither answer applies to every situation — use this as a starting point, not a final rule.
BizDraft is enough
A web design project, a marketing retainer, a consulting engagement at moderate value with a standard scope of work. BizDraft produces a solid first draft with the protective clauses these engagements typically need. Review, adjust, sign.
BizDraft is enough
A standard mutual NDA for a new client relationship or business discussion. BizDraft handles the standard protective language — definition of confidential information, exclusions, obligations, term. For standard use, the draft covers what's needed.
Consider a lawyer
A $50,000+ project or a multi-year retainer where a dispute would have significant financial consequences. Use BizDraft to produce a solid first draft, then send the Word file to an attorney for review and markup. You'll reduce their time and your bill.
Get a lawyer
If the agreement involves equity transfer, assignment of patent rights, co-founding structures, or profit sharing with complex triggers — this is beyond standard service agreement territory. These structures have lasting legal and tax implications that need attorney-level review.
Get a lawyer
Healthcare providers, financial advisors, real estate transactions, employment agreements — industries with specific statutory requirements. The compliance landscape is too specific to rely on general AI defaults. Local practitioner knowledge is not replaceable here.
Get a lawyer
If you're renegotiating terms mid-contract, dealing with a breach, or trying to terminate an agreement with a difficult counterparty — you're no longer in drafting territory. You need legal representation and advice, not a drafting tool.
What lawyers do that AI can't
An attorney brings several things to a contract that a drafting tool genuinely cannot replicate. Strategic risk assessment: whether the deal structure exposes you to risks you haven't considered. Negotiating leverage: understanding what the other party will accept and what's worth pushing back on. Jurisdiction-specific expertise: recent case law, regulatory interpretation, and industry precedent that isn't in an AI's training data.
The attorney also brings accountability. If they advise you incorrectly, there are professional and legal consequences. BizDraft has no such accountability — it's a software tool, and the user is responsible for reviewing its output. That asymmetry is real and shouldn't be minimized.
Common questions
A practical test: if a dispute about this contract would have a meaningful financial impact on your business, the cost of an attorney's review is worth it. For most freelancers, the threshold is roughly when the contract value exceeds a month's typical revenue. For businesses, it's when the deal is material enough that a bad outcome would show up on your financials.
Yes, and this is the recommended workflow for high-stakes agreements. Generate the draft in BizDraft, download the Word file, send it to an attorney for review and markup. They'll work faster with a structured draft than starting from scratch, which saves time on your legal bill.
For standard agreements at moderate value, BizDraft's draft covers what's typically needed. If budget is the constraint, use BizDraft's output as your agreement, read every clause carefully, and negotiate any terms you're uncomfortable with before signing. For genuinely high-stakes situations, legal aid organizations, state bar referral services, or flat-fee contract review services (not subscription-based) can provide affordable legal review.
Drafting from scratch takes more attorney time — and costs more. Contract review (reading, flagging issues, suggesting edits to an existing draft) is faster. BizDraft produces a complete structured draft so an attorney can focus their time on reviewing rather than writing. Most attorneys will charge meaningfully less for reviewing a complete draft than for drafting from a blank page.
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