Business process automation for legal teams: How to automate contract intake, review, and approval workflows
At a glance
Legal teams face growing demand for faster, audit-ready contract cycles.
Manual intake, reviews, and approvals create bottlenecks and compliance gaps.
Legal process automation centralizes workflows, redlines, and sign-offs in one secure space.
With configurable workflows, version control, and digital approvals, every contract moves smoothly from request to execution.
The growing demand for legal process automation
Corporate legal departments are under constant pressure to manage more contracts with fewer resources. According to Gartner’s Legal Department Operations Survey 2024, nearly 60% of in-house teams are investing in workflow automation to reduce delays and compliance risks.
Yet many still rely on email threads and document attachments, leading to missed approvals and untracked edits. Legal process automation provides the structure missing in traditional setups — turning every contract into a traceable, auditable, and efficient workflow.
Understanding the problem: Manual bottlenecks in contract workflows
Without automation, contract lifecycles tend to fragment. Intake requests arrive informally, redlines circulate over email, and sign-offs depend on manual reminders. This creates:
- Version confusion from parallel document edits.
- Delays in gathering stakeholder approvals.
- Limited visibility into contract status and obligations.
- Risk exposure due to poor audit trails.
Each of these issues compounds inefficiency and increases legal risk. The goal of automation isn’t just speed — it’s control, consistency, and accountability across the entire contract process.
Intake & triage: Establishing structure from the start
Contract efficiency begins at intake. Digital request forms capture essential details — requester, type of contract, counterparties, and deadlines — and route them to the right reviewers automatically.
With legal process automation, triage happens instantly. For instance, procurement agreements can be routed to legal review while NDAs go through a self-service approval flow.
This eliminates ambiguity, ensures timely acknowledgment, and creates a single record of each request — critical for audit readiness.
Redlines & version control: Collaborating in one source of truth
Redlining is often the most chaotic part of contract management. Email attachments multiply, and different stakeholders edit different versions.
Automation centralizes all contract versions in one shared workspace with version history, timestamps, and contextual comments. Reviewers can add feedback directly within the workflow rather than through scattered threads.
Moxo integrates seamlessly with document management and e-signature tools such as DocuSign and Box, keeping every update traceable and secure.
Legal teams gain clarity — knowing exactly who changed what, when, and why — without endless email loops.
Approvals & eSign: Accelerating sign-offs with accountability
Approvals are a frequent roadblock in legal workflows. Missing reminders and unclear accountability cause contracts to linger for days or weeks.
Automation assigns clear approvers, triggers real-time reminders, and escalates delayed steps. Executives can review and sign contracts directly from mobile devices, speeding turnaround.
With embedded e-signatures, final versions are automatically stored in the central repository. Moxo’s workflow automation capabilities enable approval chains that are visible, trackable, and fully documented — cutting approval times by up to 60% while maintaining compliance.
Repository & obligations: Securing compliance through visibility
Once signed, every contract needs to live in a secure, searchable, and auditable environment. Legal process automation connects the approval flow to a central repository where metadata — like renewal dates, governing law, or contract value — can be captured automatically.
Alerts notify business owners of key deadlines, reducing risk of missed renewals. Built-in audit trails ensure full traceability of every action in compliance with SOC 2 and GDPR standards.
This shift from static storage to active contract management gives legal teams both control and accountability.
Build it in Moxo: How legal teams can automate end-to-end workflows
Legal departments can design their own automated workflows in Moxo’s no-code platform, connecting every step — intake, review, approval, and archival — without needing IT support.
Flow Builder: forms, file requests, approvals, and e-signatures
Teams can configure custom forms for intake, add file request stages for counterparties, and route contracts to approvers automatically. E-signatures are embedded directly into the workflow to close loops faster.
Controls: branches, milestones, and thresholds
Conditional logic allows dynamic routing — for instance, high-value contracts trigger an extra compliance review or legal director approval. Progress milestones track where each contract stands in real time.
Automations & integrations
Moxo integrates with existing CRMs, ERPs, and DMS platforms like Salesforce, NetSuite, and Dropbox to maintain system-wide synchronization. This eliminates duplicate data entry and preserves a consistent source of truth.
Magic Links for external participants
External parties, such as vendors or clients, can securely review, comment, or sign documents without login credentials through Magic Links. Every action is timestamped and auditable, ensuring transparency.
Management reporting: visibility for decision-makers
Dashboards display metrics such as completion rates, turnaround times, and bottleneck stages. Legal operations leaders can use these insights to refine processes and improve compliance readiness.
Comparison and evaluation factors
When assessing tools for legal process automation, most teams evaluate document management systems, project management software, and workflow orchestration platforms.
Legal leaders should focus on configurability, compliance, external access, and reporting. The key question: Would you invite a vendor or counterparty into this system? If not, it’s not built for legal orchestration.
Transforming Contract Workflows with Real-World Examples
Here’s how business process automation with Moxo has revolutionized contract workflows across industries, offering valuable insights for legal teams looking to optimize their operations:
Industry: Legal & Compliance
Challenge: Disconnected redlining cycles delayed contract execution, leading to inefficiencies and missed deadlines.
Outcome: Using Moxo’s workflow automation and e-signature integrations, approvals were completed 55% faster. The process ensured full version control and audit logs, enhancing traceability and compliance.
Key takeaway for legal teams: Automating contract intake and redlining workflows can drastically cut approval times while maintaining meticulous record-keeping.
Industry: Financial Services
Challenge: Vendor contracts lacked visibility, and renewal tracking was prone to errors, leading to compliance risks.
Outcome: Moxo introduced automated reminders and centralized contract repositories, reducing compliance risks by 40% and improving renewal management.
Key takeaway for legal teams: Centralizing documents and automating renewal tracking minimizes regulatory risks and ensures timely contract updates.
Industry: Consulting
Challenge: Global client approvals were delayed by inefficient, email-based review processes, causing bottlenecks in service delivery.
Outcome: With mobile-friendly approvals and shared dashboards, turnaround times improved by 60% while ensuring compliance transparency throughout the process.
Key Takeaway for Legal Teams: Real-time collaboration tools and mobile-ready workflows streamline global contract reviews, even across time zonesBy automating contract intake, review, and approval workflows, legal teams can save time, minimize risks, and ensure smoother operations—all while staying compliant. Moxo’s solutions provide a clear path to achieving these outcomes.
Explore similar success stories through Moxo’s client onboarding and vendor portal solutions.
How Moxo helps
Legal teams manage multiple high-risk workflows. Moxo helps automate contract intake, review, and approval while maintaining compliance and oversight.
With the workflow builder, teams can design step-by-step workflows for contract submission, redlining, and sign-off. Document workflows manage version control and ensure every change is logged.
Automations assign reviewers, trigger reminders, and route contracts for eSign through integrations. Dashboards show review timelines and workload distribution, while security controls protect sensitive data.
Moxo turns legal operations into a structured, transparent process—improving accuracy, speed, and compliance.
Turning contract complexity into operational clarity
Modern legal operations aren’t just about managing contracts — they’re about managing accountability. Legal process automation allows teams to reduce manual friction, gain transparency, and ensure compliance at every step.
Moxo enables this transformation. With its no-code builder, secure document management, and integrated approvals, it brings every stakeholder into one orchestrated flow — cutting time, errors, and uncertainty.
Ready to experience how automation can modernize your legal workflows? Book a demo and see how Moxo streamlines contract management from intake to execution.
FAQs
What is legal process automation?
It’s the use of workflow technology to automate repetitive legal tasks such as contract intake, review, and approval. With Moxo, all these steps happen in a single, trackable environment.
How does automation improve legal approvals?
It assigns clear approvers, sends reminders, and logs every action — reducing bottlenecks and creating an auditable record for compliance.
Is Moxo suitable for cross-departmental legal work?
Yes. Through shared workspaces and Magic Links, internal teams and external vendors can collaborate securely without email clutter.
How does Moxo ensure data security?
Moxo is SOC 2 and SOC 3 certified and GDPR compliant, ensuring data encryption, access controls, and complete audit trails.
What ROI can legal teams expect from automation?
On average, legal departments see 40–60% faster approvals and up to 75% less administrative effort, freeing teams for strategic initiatives.
