Why Legal Teams Are Choosing AI Intake Over Static…

Legal teams lose up to 20% of their time hunting for information buried in emails, tickets, and docs. That’s not just a productivity drain—it’s a slow leak of institutional knowledge that erodes trust across the business.

AI-driven intake flips the model. Instead of routing everything into a black-box queue, it captures context, applies playbooks, and returns decisions fast—while strengthening your legal foundation with every request. This is where Sandstone’s knowledge layer shines.

The Problem With Static Ticketing: Slow, Opaque, and Forgetful

Static intake systems were built for categorizing, not deciding. They:

Lose critical context: requesters rarely include the docs or details legal needs.
Delay decisions: manual triage and back-and-forth add days to SLAs.
Don’t learn: each ticket is an isolated event; positions and playbooks don’t compound.
Create shadow ops: business teams bypass legal to avoid the queue.

The result is predictable: legal becomes a bottleneck, SLAs slip, and risk creeps in through exceptions no one can track. Teams try to fix it with more forms, more fields, and more rules—when what’s missing is an operating system that understands your positions and can act on them.

What AI Intake Looks Like on Sandstone

Sandstone transforms intake from a gate into a control tower:

Structured capture, wherever work happens: Slack, email, Salesforce, procurement portals. Sandstone gathers the right context (counterparty, contract type, data flows, region) automatically.
Playbook-first triage: AI agents apply your playbooks to route, respond, or draft. They know when to auto-approve, when to escalate, and which positions apply.
Decisioning, not just routing: generate first-pass redlines, summary memos, or approval notes aligned to your risk posture.
Knowledge that compounds: every intake updates the living playbook—positions, exceptions, rationales—so the next decision is faster and smarter.
Native auditability: decisions, data, and outcomes are recorded to your knowledge layer, strengthening defensibility without adding admin.

You don’t need to rip-and-replace your CLM or procurement tools. Sandstone sits naturally across them, turning fragmented workflows into a single, layered operating system for legal.

A Concrete Workflow: Vendor NDA in Procurement

Consider a vendor NDA request initiated in Slack:

Intake: A PM types “Need NDA for Vendor X,” attaches the template, and tags #procurement. Sandstone extracts vendor name, jurisdiction, and template type.
Triage: The AI agent checks the NDA against your positions—mutual vs. one-way, term length, governing law, IP carve-outs.
Decision: If the draft matches policy, it’s auto-approved with a stamped summary. If not, Sandstone generates a redline using your fallback clauses and flags only the deltas requiring review.
Routing: Exceptions (e.g., unilateral NDA with unlimited term) route to the right approver with a one-click rationale pulled from your playbook.
Sync: Status and signed copy flow back to the procurement tool and vendor record in Salesforce/GRC. The decision, exceptions, and final positions update your knowledge layer.

Time to first response drops from days to minutes. More importantly, your positions move from static docs to an active system that guides every request.

The Metrics That Matter (And How to Move Them)

AI intake isn’t a vanity upgrade; it’s a KPI engine. Track:

Time to First Response (TTFR): Target < 5 minutes for standard requests.
Auto-Resolution Rate: % of requests closed without attorney intervention.
Playbook Adherence: Exceptions granted vs. requested, by team and template.
Knowledge Reuse: # of decisions referencing prior rationale/positions.
Stakeholder Satisfaction: Short CSAT pulse in Slack upon resolution.

Sandstone gives you these out of the box. Better yet, every improvement compounds—fewer exceptions, faster cycles, and a clearer map of risk tolerance across the company.

Actionable Next Step: Run a 30-Day AI Intake Pilot

Pick one high-volume request type—NDAs, vendor DPAs, or sales order forms—and pilot AI intake:

Week 1: Document your current playbook and fallback positions. Connect Slack/email and your CLM or storage.
Week 2: Turn on auto-triage and first-pass drafting for low-risk paths. Keep escalations with humans.
Week 3: Add exception routing and on-the-fly rationale capture. Start measuring TTFR and auto-resolution.
Week 4: Review metrics, refine positions, and expand to the next workflow.

You’ll know it’s working when requesters stop asking “What’s the status?” and start asking “Can we add the next template?”

From Bottleneck to Bedrock

Legal shouldn’t be a ticket queue—it should be connective tissue. Sandstone makes that possible by layering your data, playbooks, and decisions into a living system that learns with every intake. Strength through layers. Crafted precision. Natural integration.

When legal ops runs on a scalable, streamlined foundation, speed and trust stop competing. They compound. That’s how legal moves from reactive support to a proactive force at the heart of the business—and how your organization grows with clarity and confidence.

The Problem With Static Ticketing: Slow, Opaque, and Forgetful

Static intake systems were built for categorizing, not deciding. They:

Lose critical context: requesters rarely include the docs or details legal needs.
Delay decisions: manual triage and back-and-forth add days to SLAs.
Don’t learn: each ticket is an isolated event; positions and playbooks don’t compound.
Create shadow ops: business teams bypass legal to avoid the queue.

What AI Intake Looks Like on Sandstone

Sandstone transforms intake from a gate into a control tower:

Structured capture, wherever work happens: Slack, email, Salesforce, procurement portals. Sandstone gathers the right context (counterparty, contract type, data flows, region) automatically.
Playbook-first triage: AI agents apply your playbooks to route, respond, or draft. They know when to auto-approve, when to escalate, and which positions apply.
Decisioning, not just routing: generate first-pass redlines, summary memos, or approval notes aligned to your risk posture.
Knowledge that compounds: every intake updates the living playbook—positions, exceptions, rationales—so the next decision is faster and smarter.
Native auditability: decisions, data, and outcomes are recorded to your knowledge layer, strengthening defensibility without adding admin.

You don’t need to rip-and-replace your CLM or procurement tools. Sandstone sits naturally across them, turning fragmented workflows into a single, layered operating system for legal.

A Concrete Workflow: Vendor NDA in Procurement

Consider a vendor NDA request initiated in Slack:

Intake: A PM types “Need NDA for Vendor X,” attaches the template, and tags #procurement. Sandstone extracts vendor name, jurisdiction, and template type.
Triage: The AI agent checks the NDA against your positions—mutual vs. one-way, term length, governing law, IP carve-outs.
Decision: If the draft matches policy, it’s auto-approved with a stamped summary. If not, Sandstone generates a redline using your fallback clauses and flags only the deltas requiring review.
Routing: Exceptions (e.g., unilateral NDA with unlimited term) route to the right approver with a one-click rationale pulled from your playbook.
Sync: Status and signed copy flow back to the procurement tool and vendor record in Salesforce/GRC. The decision, exceptions, and final positions update your knowledge layer.

Time to first response drops from days to minutes. More importantly, your positions move from static docs to an active system that guides every request.

The Metrics That Matter (And How to Move Them)

AI intake isn’t a vanity upgrade; it’s a KPI engine. Track:

Time to First Response (TTFR): Target < 5 minutes for standard requests.
Auto-Resolution Rate: % of requests closed without attorney intervention.
Playbook Adherence: Exceptions granted vs. requested, by team and template.
Knowledge Reuse: # of decisions referencing prior rationale/positions.
Stakeholder Satisfaction: Short CSAT pulse in Slack upon resolution.

Sandstone gives you these out of the box. Better yet, every improvement compounds—fewer exceptions, faster cycles, and a clearer map of risk tolerance across the company.

Actionable Next Step: Run a 30-Day AI Intake Pilot

Pick one high-volume request type—NDAs, vendor DPAs, or sales order forms—and pilot AI intake:

Week 1: Document your current playbook and fallback positions. Connect Slack/email and your CLM or storage.
Week 2: Turn on auto-triage and first-pass drafting for low-risk paths. Keep escalations with humans.
Week 3: Add exception routing and on-the-fly rationale capture. Start measuring TTFR and auto-resolution.
Week 4: Review metrics, refine positions, and expand to the next workflow.

You’ll know it’s working when requesters stop asking “What’s the status?” and start asking “Can we add the next template?”

Why Legal Teams Are Choosing AI Intake Over Static Ticketing in 2025

The Problem With Static Ticketing: Slow, Opaque, and Forgetful

What AI Intake Looks Like on Sandstone

A Concrete Workflow: Vendor NDA in Procurement

Actionable Next Step: Run a 30-Day AI Intake Pilot

From Bottleneck to Bedrock

About Jarryd Strydom

Why Legal Teams Are Choosing AI Intake Over Static Ticketing in 2025

The Problem With Static Ticketing: Slow, Opaque, and Forgetful

What AI Intake Looks Like on Sandstone

A Concrete Workflow: Vendor NDA in Procurement

Actionable Next Step: Run a 30-Day AI Intake Pilot

From Bottleneck to Bedrock

About Jarryd Strydom