Flag Risk Clauses in Broker and Carrier Vendor Contracts

Spellbook is a legal-tech tool first. Before you request access, check whether your legal department already has a subscription. If they do, ask for a seat and offer to run the first contract through it together so legal sees exactly what the tool flags and what it misses.

1. Email or message your legal contact to ask if the organization already has Spellbook.
2. If not, propose a joint trial. Legal teams are the ones eligible for Spellbook's free trial period, so this conversation needs to happen before you can test it.

What you should see: A confirmed license, or a plan to share legal's existing one. Troubleshooting: If legal has never heard of Spellbook, point them to the product page so they can evaluate it on their own terms. It is their tool to approve, not yours to install unilaterally.

1. Open Microsoft Word and look in the Insert or Add-ins menu for the option to browse add-ins.
2. Search for Spellbook and add it to Word, signing in with the account legal set up for you.

What you should see: A Spellbook panel or sidebar appears inside Word once the add-in loads. Troubleshooting: Add-in menu names shift between Word versions and Microsoft 365 updates. If you cannot find it under Insert, check with your IT team since some organizations restrict which add-ins employees can install without admin approval.

A playbook is a saved set of instructions describing what your organization considers acceptable in a vendor contract. This is the step that makes the tool useful instead of generic.

1. Open Spellbook's Playbooks feature inside the add-in.
2. Write out your organization's standard positions in plain language: who is liable for a data breach, what termination notice is acceptable, how fee increases should be capped, and any clauses that should never appear (like automatic multi-year renewal without notice).
3. Save the playbook so you can reuse it on every broker and carrier contract going forward.

What you should see: A saved playbook you can select before reviewing any document. Troubleshooting: If you are unsure what your standard positions should be, ask legal for the last contract they negotiated hard on. Their markup is a good starting template.

1. Open the broker or carrier contract in Word.
2. In the Spellbook panel, select Review and choose the playbook you built in Step 3.
3. Let it scan the document against your saved positions.

What you should see: Flagged clauses appear inline or in a summary list, each tied to the playbook position it conflicts with. Troubleshooting: If the tool flags almost nothing, double-check that you selected the right playbook. A generic or empty playbook will not catch much.

Do not forward every flag to legal unedited. Read each one and decide whether it is a real concern or standard industry language you already expect.

1. Sort the flags into two groups: genuine concerns and things you were already aware of.
2. Add a one-line note on why each genuine concern matters to your organization.

What you should see: A short, prioritized list instead of a full document dump. Troubleshooting: When a flagged clause uses legal terms you do not fully understand, do not guess. That is exactly the kind of item to route to legal rather than resolve yourself.

1. Export or copy the flagged sections along with your notes.
2. Send this shortlist to legal instead of the full contract cold, and mention which playbook you used so they can see your assumptions.

What you should see: A faster response from legal, since they are reviewing your triaged list rather than starting from scratch. Troubleshooting: If legal asks for the full contract anyway, send it. The shortlist speeds up their first pass. It does not replace their judgment.