Arbiter Deep Dive

In this article, we’ll explore how to use DocJuris Arbiter to collaborate with external parties on contracts.

Sending A Draft

Initial Draft and Team Collaboration

While working on your initial draft in the Contract Editor, you can set up your contract for collaboration with both an internal team and external parties.

To open a contract for collaborating, you can create a new contract from the Templates page in the Dashboard, or use Analyze a Contract to open a draft.

Locking Down Sections

The provision locking feature in DocJuris allows you to control which sections of a contract will be available for markup when sharing.

You can use this feature in the Contract Editor to restrict specific Sections/paragraphs on a Turn to Comment only. As a result, other Users will not be able to add markups to locked Sections/paragraphs.

To Lock Down Individual/Multiple Sections of a Contract:  1. Hover the mouse cursor over the desired Section(s) and click the Checkbox on the left. 2. In the Section Menu above the Editor, click the Actions: Select Action dropdown menu and select Lock Sections. 3. The Section will turn Gray to indicate its Locked status.

Setting Areas

You can set Areas to use as reference when collaborating on a contract. When a greater degree of specificity is needed for discussion or for more granular control of provisions, especially during collaborations, Areas are another great feature to use within the DocJuris platform.

How to Set Areas: 

1. Open the Contract.
2. Click the Browse tab on the left.
3. In the Areas section, click the + button to add an Area.
4. Set the Start Area and End Area in the Contract Editor to the right.
5. Name the Area.
6. Click the View button to jump to that Area of the Contract.

Invite the External Party

To invite the External Party to review the contract in DocJuris: 1. Click the Send button at top right. 2. Click the Invite button. 3. Set a Due Date as a reminder for the external party. 4. Enter an email address for the new external party. The invite will be sent to this email address. 5. Add a Message (optional). 6. Click Send.   The external party will receive the invitation to review the contract via email.

Recalling the Contract

After sending an invite, you can recall the contract if you no longer want the external party to access it.

To Recall the contract: 1. Click Send Settings. 2. Click Recall Contract. 3. Add a Message (optional). 4. Click Recall.

Ending the Review

You can also end the contract review after the contract has been sent. After ending the review, your external party will receive an email notifying them that the review has been ended.

To End the Review: 1. Click Send Settings. 2. Click End Review. 3. Add a Message (optional). 4. Click End Review.

Exporting to Word

At any time during or after the contract review, you can also take the review offline and Export the contract as a Word document. Exporting to Word can also be used as an escape latch in case the external party can’t access a web browser or is otherwise unable to collaborate at the moment.

To Export to Word: 1. Click Send Settings. 2. Click the Export button. 3. Choose either Clean Copy or Original option. 4. Choose which Edits to Export: Our Edits Only or All Edits. 5. Check the boxes for available document options, if desired:      a. Mark this turn as complete and read-only      b. Include redlines when reopening turn      c. Password protect this document (Note: you can leave all boxes unchecked and still Export.) 5. Click Email Me or Download to Export the contract as a Word doc.

Subsequent Turns

Ending Review

When starting subsequent Turns in a contract, you may want to End Review of the current Turn before uploading a new one. This way, you can continue collaborating with your External Party on your most recent Turn.

Resend to Another Party

Even after Recalling or Ending the Review with a previous External Party, you can still send the contract to another party for review during the same Turn.

To Resend the contract to a new external party: 1. Click the Send button. 2. Click Invite. 3. Enter a new Due Date and email address for the new External Party. 4. Click Send.   Your new external party will receive an invitation to edit the contract at the email address you entered.

Complete and Reopen Contract

Completing the contract will create a clean execution copy, and the current turn will be marked read-only.

After Completing the contract, you can also Reopen it to create a new editable turn.

To Complete the contract: 1. Click Send. 2. Click Complete Contract. After completing the contract, you can Invite another external party, Reopen the contract, Sign, or Export.
To Reopen the contract: 1. Click Send. 2. Click the Reopen button to instantly reopen the contract for inviting a new external party.

Sign 

When the contract is ready for signature, the contract must be completed before the Sign option is available.

To Sign the contract: 1. Click Send. 2. If the contract hasn’t been set to complete, click Send and Complete Contract to complete it.
3. Click Sign.
4. Select one of the two options for signature: a. Send to External Party: Send the completed contract to an External Party for signature.  b. Download a Clean Copy: Download a clean PDF and Sign First.
After sending, a Sent banner will appear in the Contract Editor.

DocJuris Arbiter also natively integrates with Adobe Sign. Since completed contracts are downloaded as a clean PDF document, the completed PDF contract can then be opened in Adobe and signatures can proceed.