Playbook-based contract review for growing businesses
Tell us how you do deals once. We'll review every contract that way.
Kestrel turns your deal preferences into a playbook for each type of document you receive in volume, then reviews every contract against it. People powered by AI, so reviews come back faster, more consistent and more reliable, priced as a subscription rather than by the hour.
A US company, founded in Orlando, Florida, built for companies without in-house counsel. English, Spanish and Portuguese. Kestrel is a contract review service, not a law firm: when a question needs legal advice, we connect you with an independent lawyer.
How it works
From first conversation to reviewed contracts in five steps.
You never have to explain your business twice. The setup happens once per document type; after that, you just send contracts.
Describe your business
What you sell, who you sell to, and where the contracts come from.
Pick the document
Choose the type of contract you receive in volume and roughly how many a month.
Answer the questionnaire
A short, plain-language set of questions for that document type. No legal background needed.
We build your playbook
Your answers become the rules our reviewers follow: what to accept, what to push back on, what to escalate to you.
Send contracts, get them back
Each contract comes back marked up against your playbook, with a short note on anything that needs your decision.
The playbook
Your positions, in writing, applied consistently.
A playbook is a short document that records how your company wants a given contract to come out: the terms you accept as they are, the ones you always change, your fallback positions, and the points that have to go to you before anyone signs.
Large companies run their contracts this way because it is faster, cheaper and more consistent than reviewing every document from scratch. Kestrel brings the same method to businesses that don't have a legal team to write one.
Our reviewers apply the playbook with AI tools that check every clause against it, so nothing is missed and every contract is treated the same way. People make the calls; the technology makes them faster and more consistent. You can update the playbook anytime.
What a playbook covers
- Acceptable terms. Clauses that match your standard, so they pass without comment.
- Preferred and fallback positions. What we ask for first, and what you'll accept if the other side pushes back.
- Walk-away points. Terms that are never acceptable and always come back to you.
- Escalation rules. Who at your company decides, and when a lawyer should be involved.
- Business context. The reasons behind the rules, so reviewers apply them with judgment.
Documents
The contracts businesses receive again and again.
You get one playbook per type of document. Playbooks work best for documents you see in volume, and these are the types we're launching with.
NDAs and confidentiality agreements
The first document in almost every relationship, and the one most often signed without reading.
Vendor and supplier agreements
Purchase terms, supply agreements and the procurement paper that sets your payment terms, liability and exit rights.
Customer agreements and MSAs
Your own terms coming back marked up by a customer's lawyer, and the order forms and SOWs that sit underneath them.
SaaS and software terms
Subscription agreements, data processing terms and the auto-renewals that quietly add up.
Contractor and staffing agreements
Independent contractor, consulting and staffing terms, including IP assignment and confidentiality.
Something else in volume?
If your business signs the same document type repeatedly, tell us about it. New playbook types are added based on demand.
Contract intelligence
Every contract we review teaches us something. You get the benefit.
Our team reviews contracts across industries, countries and document types every day. That gives us a running picture of what is market standard, what is shifting, and what other companies are accepting or pushing back on.
We feed that back into your playbook, so your positions stay current without you having to follow the market yourself. And because every review is logged in your portal, you build up data on your own contracts over time: which terms come up most, where deals stall, which counterparties push hardest.
That data is yours. Share it with your lawyer, your board or your leadership team to plan the business. We give you the intelligence; the strategy and any legal advice stay with the people you choose.
Your documents are not training data. We never use your contracts or business information to train AI models. What we learn from reviews is about contract terms in general, aggregated and anonymised, and that is what we use to track market standards and new contract practices. Nothing identifies you, your deals or your counterparties.
What you can see
- Playbook benchmarks. How your positions compare with what we see as market standard for your document type.
- Term frequency. The clauses that come up most often in the contracts you receive, and how they usually resolve.
- Turnaround and volume. How many contracts you process, how long each takes, and where they wait.
- Playbook updates. A note when market practice moves and your playbook may need a refresh.
- Exportable reports. Data you can take to your counsel or leadership team.
Support
Not legal savvy? That's the point.
Most of the time a marked-up contract and a short note is all you need. When it isn't, there's a person on the other end. And because Kestrel is not a law firm and does not give legal advice, when a question needs a lawyer we connect you with one.
Marked-up contract and plain-English note
Changes tracked in the document, with a short summary of what we changed, why, and anything you need to decide.
A call with your Kestrel team
Book a one-on-one call with the person who reviewed your contract. They'll walk you through the issues in plain language.
An introduction to independent counsel
Kestrel does not give legal advice. If a question needs it, we connect you with an independent lawyer from our invitation-only network who already knows how Kestrel works. You engage them directly, on your terms.
A monthly subscription, not an hourly bill.
Kestrel will be priced as a monthly plan sized to the number of contracts you send, with your playbook setup included. We're finalising plans with our first clients now. Join the early access list and you'll be the first to see them, with founding-client terms.
About Kestrel
Senior contract experience, sized for growing businesses.
Kestrel Review was started by Andrés Toro, a corporate lawyer with more than 25 years in contracts, cross-border deals and early-stage M&A, who spent years inside companies watching deal teams wait on legal for answers a good playbook could have given them in a day.
Kestrel is a US company, founded in Orlando, Florida, and operated by Toro Consulting Services LLC. Its review team works from the United States, Brazil, Chile and Portugal, and reviews contracts in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
- Company
- Toro Consulting Services LLC, a US company
- Founded in
- Orlando, Florida
- Team in
- United States, Brazil, Chile, Portugal
- Languages
- English, Spanish, Portuguese
- Typical client
- Growing companies without in-house counsel
FAQ
Questions we get before the first playbook.
Is Kestrel a law firm?
No. Kestrel Review is a contract review service operated by Toro Consulting Services LLC. We review and mark up commercial contracts against the playbook you build with us; we do not give legal advice or act as your attorney. When a question needs a lawyer, we introduce you to an independent lawyer from our network and you engage them directly.
Do I need to know anything about contracts to build a playbook?
No. The questionnaire asks about your business and how you like to do deals, in plain language. We translate the answers into the playbook and walk you through it before the first review.
What does a reviewed contract look like?
A Word file with tracked changes you can send straight to the other side, plus a short note listing what we changed, why, and anything that needs your decision.
How fast is a review?
Turnaround is set in your plan. Most playbook reviews come back within two business days; faster options will be available.
Can you review contracts in Portuguese or Spanish?
Yes. The team reviews in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and can deliver the note in the language you prefer.
How do you keep my documents confidential?
Every subscription is covered by confidentiality terms, documents are stored in access-controlled systems, and only the reviewers assigned to your account see them.
Do you use my contracts to train AI?
No. Your contracts and business information are never used to train AI models. The intelligence we build comes from general contract terms across the reviews we do, aggregated and anonymised, and it is used to keep playbooks current and to spot new market practices. Nothing identifies you, your deals or the other side.
What is the client portal?
Once you're a client, you log in to send contracts, see the status of each request, review your playbook, and manage billing in one place.
Early access
Tell us about your contracts. We'll be in touch.
We're onboarding a first group of clients now. Tell us what you sign in volume and we'll reach out to set up your playbook, with founding-client pricing.