negotiate

Contract Negotiation Strategy Generator

Overview

Reads a contract or agreement, identifies clauses that are unfavorable, one-sided, or carry hidden risk, and produces a structured negotiation strategy document with specific counter-proposals ranked by priority. Benchmarks replacement language against CommonPaper standard clauses (CC BY 4.0) to ensure proposed alternatives reflect market norms.

This skill performs analysis only — it does not create new contracts. It reads the source document and outputs a negotiation strategy in Markdown.

Legal Disclaimer: This skill generates AI-assisted analysis for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. All counter-proposals and replacement language must be reviewed by a licensed attorney before use in any binding agreement. No attorney-client relationship is created by using this tool.

Prerequisites

• A contract or agreement file accessible in the workspace (.md, .txt, or .pdf)
• Knowledge of the user's negotiating position (buyer, seller, service provider, etc.)
• Understanding of which party the user represents

Instructions

1. Identify the contract. Locate the contract file using Glob. If multiple contracts exist, ask the user to confirm which one to analyze.

2. Read the full contract. Use Read to ingest the entire document. Note the parties, effective date, governing law, and contract type.

3. Classify the user's position. Determine which party the user represents and their leverage context (e.g., small vendor vs. enterprise buyer).

4. Scan for unfavorable clauses. Evaluate every section against these risk categories:

   • Liability & Indemnification — unlimited liability, one-sided indemnity, no caps
   • Termination — termination for convenience without notice, auto-renewal traps
   • IP & Ownership — broad IP assignment, work-for-hire overreach
   • Payment — late payment penalties without reciprocal terms, NET-90+
   • Confidentiality — perpetual obligations, overly broad definitions
   • Non-Compete / Non-Solicit — excessive scope, duration, or geography
   • Limitation of Liability — exclusion of consequential damages only for one party
   • Governing Law & Dispute — inconvenient jurisdiction, mandatory arbitration
   • Data & Privacy — broad data usage rights, no breach notification
   • Force Majeure — missing or one-sided

5. Prioritize findings into three tiers:

   • MUST-CHANGE — Clauses that create unacceptable legal or financial risk. Deal-breakers if not modified.
   • SHOULD-CHANGE — Clauses that are unfavorable but negotiable. Significant improvement if changed.
   • NICE-TO-CHANGE — Minor improvements that strengthen position but are not critical.

6. Generate counter-proposals. For each flagged clause:

   • Quote the original clause text verbatim
   • Explain the specific risk in plain English
   • Provide replacement language (benchmark against CommonPaper standard clauses)
   • Include a confidence indicator: HIGH (standard market practice), MEDIUM (reasonable but may face pushback), LOW (aggressive position)
   • Write 2-3 negotiation talking points explaining why the change is fair

7. Draft a professional email template. Create a ready-to-send email that:

   • Opens with appreciation for the partnership/opportunity
   • Frames changes as "clarifications" or "alignment with market standards"
   • References specific clause numbers
   • Maintains a collaborative, non-adversarial tone
   • Closes with a request for a call to discuss

8. Compile the strategy document. Assemble all findings into the output format below.

Output

Generate a single Markdown file named NEGOTIATION-STRATEGY-{contract-name}.md with:

# Negotiation Strategy: {Contract Name}

## Summary
- Contract: {name}
- Parties: {Party A} / {Party B}
- Representing: {which party}
- Date analyzed: {date}
- Clauses flagged: {count} ({MUST}: N, {SHOULD}: N, {NICE}: N)

## Risk Overview
{2-3 sentence executive summary of overall contract fairness}

## MUST-CHANGE Clauses
### 1. {Section Reference} — {Short Description}
**Original:** > {quoted text}
**Risk:** {plain English explanation}
**Counter-Proposal:** {replacement language}
**Confidence:** {HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW}
**Talking Points:**
- {point 1}
- {point 2}

## SHOULD-CHANGE Clauses
{same format}

## NICE-TO-CHANGE Clauses
{same format}

## Negotiation Email Draft
{professional email template}

## Benchmarks Referenced
- CommonPaper Standard Cloud Agreement (CC BY 4.0)
- {other relevant standards}

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
No contract file found	Missing or wrong path	Ask user for the file location
Ambiguous party role	Cannot determine who user represents	Ask user to clarify their position
Non-English contract	Skill optimized for English common law	Warn user; provide best-effort analysis with caveats
Highly specialized terms	Domain-specific clauses (e.g., pharma, defense)	Flag as requiring specialist review
PDF format unreadable	Scanned image PDF	Ask user for text version or OCR output

Examples

Example 1: SaaS Vendor Agreement

Request: "Analyze this vendor agreement and generate counter-proposals — we're the customer"

Result: Strategy document identifying 12 clauses across 3 tiers:

• MUST-CHANGE: Unlimited liability for customer (cap at 12 months fees), auto-renewal without 60-day notice window
• SHOULD-CHANGE: NET-60 payment terms (propose NET-30 with 2% early payment discount), broad IP license grant
• NICE-TO-CHANGE: Governing law in vendor's state (propose mutual arbitration)

Example 2: Freelancer Service Agreement

Request: "Review this freelance contract — I'm the freelancer"

Result: Strategy identifying one-sided IP assignment (propose limited license), missing kill fee provision (propose 25% kill fee after kickoff), and 2-year non-compete (propose narrowing to direct competitors for 6 months).

Resources

• CommonPaper Standard Agreements — CC BY 4.0 open-source contract standards
• Bonterms Cloud Terms — CC BY 4.0 standardized cloud contracting
• American Bar Association Model Agreements — professional benchmarks
• SCORE Contract Negotiation Guide — SBA-funded small business resources