How Legal Can Reduce Risk Without Slowing Down Deals

For many organizations, this tension plays out the same way. A deal gets to the contract stage, and momentum fades. The customer’s legal team raises concerns, redlines start piling up, and suddenly, what seemed like a simple agreement turns into weeks of negotiations. Sales teams grow frustrated, finance teams struggle with revenue projections, and legal is caught in the middle—trying to protect the company while being urged to speed things up.

This cycle is not just frustrating; it is expensive. Deals delayed in legal review mean revenue pushed to the next quarter. Lengthy negotiations drive up legal costs. And in some cases, the friction is enough to make a customer walk away altogether. The good news is that this does not have to be the reality. Legal teams can reduce risk without slowing down deals, and the key to doing so is contract certification. Contract certification is a practical tool for proactive contract risk management.

Why Contract Approval Becomes a Bottleneck for Legal Teams

No legal team wants to slow down a deal. But contract reviews are time-consuming, and for good reason. Every agreement carries potential risks, whether it is liability exposure, vague data privacy terms, or indemnification clauses that could put the company in a difficult position. Without a standardized way to assess contracts, every review requires a fresh analysis, adding days—or even weeks—to the process.

The core issue: trust, or rather, the lack of it. When a buyer’s legal team sees a vendor contract, their instinct is to assume it is written in the vendor’s favor. That assumption leads to heavy redlining, which in turn leads to lengthy back-and-forth negotiations. The seller’s legal team must then evaluate every change, pushing back where necessary and revising the contract accordingly. Meanwhile, sales teams wait, finance teams adjust forecasts, and leadership wonders why deals are taking so long to close.

It is a slow and often frustrating process, made worse by the fact that not all contracts warrant this level of scrutiny. Many agreements contain standard terms that have been used and approved before. Yet, because there is no universally trusted way to confirm fairness, each deal is treated as if it were starting from scratch.

Tired of slow deals and endless redlines?

 Discover how Certify™ gives your legal team the confidence to approve contracts faster—without compromising on risk.

How Contract Certification Speeds Things Up

Contract certification changes this dynamic by providing an independent, data-driven assessment of contract fairness before the legal review process even begins. Instead of treating every contract as a potential risk, certification allows legal teams to approach agreements with a level of pre-established trust. 

When a contract is certified, it has been vetted against industry standards to ensure that it is fair and free from deal-breaking clauses. That means no hidden risks, no extreme liability disclaimers, and no unreasonable restrictions on the buyer. With this assurance in place, legal teams can spend less time scrutinizing every detail and more time focusing on high-value deals that require customization.

This shift is a game-changer, for Legal, instead of wading through endless contract revisions, they can prioritize agreements that truly need their attention. Certified contracts move through the pipeline faster, reducing the time spent on routine reviews and making legal teams more efficient. Sales teams benefit from fewer roadblocks, finance teams gain better revenue predictability, and customers experience a smoother, more transparent negotiation process. An independent contract review ensures fairness and builds trust.

Bridging Legal and Sales with Certified, Fair Contracts

The relationship between legal and sales is often strained by competing priorities. Sales teams push for speed, eager to get contracts signed and revenue booked. Legal teams, meanwhile, must take the time to protect the company from risks that might not be immediately apparent. It is a natural tension, but one that can create unnecessary friction if not managed properly.

Contract certification helps bridge this gap by establishing a common framework for trust. It helps legal and sales align around contract fairness, giving both sides a shared understanding of what constitutes a balanced agreement. When a contract has been independently reviewed and certified, sales teams can confidently present it to customers, knowing it is built on fair terms. Legal teams, in turn, can focus on strategic risk management rather than routine contract edits.

This alignment benefits everyone — Sales can move faster, legal can work more efficiently, and the entire company can operate with fewer bottlenecks in the deal process. Instead of legal being seen as an obstacle, they become a key enabler of business growth—helping the company close deals quickly while ensuring it remains protected.

Building a Scalable, Risk-Aware Contract Approval Process

In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies cannot afford to let contract friction slow them down. At the same time, they cannot afford to take shortcuts that expose them to risk. Contract certification offers a solution that satisfies both needs, providing legal teams with the assurance they need while allowing deals to move forward at the speed of business.

By reducing unnecessary contract negotiations, certification frees legal teams to focus on the work that truly matters—handling complex agreements, navigating regulatory changes, and advising leadership on strategic risks. It allows them to shift from being reactive to proactive, improving overall efficiency, streamlining the contract approval process, and reducing back-and-forth.

For companies looking to optimize their legal processes, contract certification is not just a way to speed up deals—it is a way to build a more scalable and efficient contracting framework. By eliminating unnecessary delays, reducing legal costs, and fostering better collaboration between departments, certification helps legal teams become the business enablers they are meant to be.

Want to understand its importance? — explore Why Contract Certification Matters to Legal Teams