Contract review was one of the first legal tasks touched by machine learning. In 2026, it is among the most reliably automated.

AI now redlines against playbooks, suggests fallback positions and summarizes obligations for business teams. Negotiation copilots are appearing inside word processors.

The remaining challenge is adoption across the business, not capability. Change management, not code, is the limiting factor.

For transactional lawyers, the value shifts toward deal strategy and judgment on the clauses that truly matter.