LawVu Lens scans your contracts to identify specific obligations and extract the details that matter to you.
The quality of what Lens finds depends directly on how clearly you describe what you're looking for — this guide walks through how to do that well.
The three-part structure:
Category → Obligation → Attribute
Before writing anything, it helps to understand how Lens organizes what it extracts:
Category — the broad area you're scanning for (e.g., Change of Control, Termination & Renewal, Data Protection and Confidentiality)
Obligation — the specific clause or provision within that category Lens is looking for
Attribute — a discrete piece of information Lens pulls out about that obligation, once found
A simple way to picture it:
The category is the folder, the obligation is the document you're looking for inside it, and attributes are the specific fields you'd highlight on that document — a date, a trigger, a notice period.
Lens needs each of those fields described individually — it won't infer a breakdown from one general description.
Obligations must have attributes. Attributes are the pieces of data that Lens actually finds.
Step 1: Define the obligation category
Define what it is you are looking for and why. For example:
Obligation category name | Description |
Data Protection & Confidentiality
| Obligations that require a party to protect confidential or sensitive information and respond appropriately to security incidents or unauthorized disclosures. This includes commitments to maintain security safeguards, notify the other party of data or confidentiality breaches, and cooperate in investigating and remediating incidents. |
Step 2: Break the obligation category into obligations
An obligation is the specific clause or provision that you are looking for more information about. For example, an obligation within the Data Protection clause could be 'Data Breach Notification'. Attributes are the specific details we want to know about that clause.
Obligation name | Attributes that might be under this |
Data Breach Notification
| Data Breach notification required? Notifying party Notification trigger Notification timeline Notification method |
Attributes are the core piece of data we’re extracting. Obligations give us a way to logically group attributes.
Step 3: Break the obligation into attributes
Attributes are the actual pieces of data you get out of Lens. For each attribute you want extracted, define:
What to specify | How to specify |
A precise name | Define what you want Lens to tell you. |
Prompt | Describe what you want Lens to extract. You can frame this is a naturally written question. Eg ' Define the event that would trigger an obligation to notify ' |
Standardized options (optional) | By default, Lens will quote the verbatim text in the contract. You can choose to also display a 'standardized' value. This is like a label that summarizes what the contract says. Eg a Yes/No option for needing to notify of a data breach, a number of options for timeline to notify (eg immediately, without undue delay, within 24 hours) |
Step 3: Worked example: Data Protection & Confidentiality
Obligation: Personal Data Breach Notification - a clause requiring one party to notify the other if there has been a breach of personal data.
Attributes:
Attribute | Prompt | Standardized option |
Data Breach notification required? | Is there anything in the contract that would indicate that there may be an obligation on one party to notify the other party, data subjects, or a regulator in the event of a data breach of personal information? | Required |
Notification trigger | Define the event that would trigger an obligation to notify | Confirmed breach Suspected breach |
Notification timeline | How long after the trigger must the notifying party act? | Immediate Without undue delay Within 24 hours Within 48 hours |
Information required in notice | What must be included in the notification? | (no standardized option selected) |
Common failure patterns to avoid
Being too broad with prompts. An attribute defined loosely enough to fire on unrelated clauses causes false positives. Narrow the description until it only matches what you actually mean.
Interpretive rather than extractive asks. "Is this clause favorable to us?" requires judgment Lens can't verify from the text. "What is the cap amount?" is extractive and verifiable. Stick to attributes you could point to in the contract and confirm are correct.