How to assess · For hiring teams
How to Assess Contract Review Skills When Hiring
The test formats that actually work for Contract Review, what a strong answer looks like, sample questions and a scoring rubric you can use as-is.
The short answer
Assess Contract Review with a task, not a conversation: marked-up contract review, explain-to-the-business exercise, ai-scored assessment (e.g. cohesyve) or negotiation of redlines. Score it against written criteria you fix before you see any submissions, and weight the criteria that the role actually depends on.
- Reads the whole document and finds the clauses that carry risk: term, termination, liability, indemnity, payment, IP, data
- Understands what each clause would mean in a dispute, not just what it says
- Prioritises redlines by consequence and picks battles
- Spots what is missing as well as what is wrong
Paste a job description; Cohesyve generates a role-specific assessment and rubric. Ten candidates free, no card.
Contract review is a skill of attention and judgement: finding the clauses that matter among the ones that do not, understanding what each one would mean if things went wrong, and knowing which to fight for. It is needed well beyond legal teams — in procurement, sales operations, partnerships and any role that signs agreements. This page covers how to assess contract review for commercial, operations and legal-adjacent roles: identifying risk, understanding key clauses, prioritising redlines, and explaining implications in plain terms.
Why Contract Review is worth testing
Contracts are read carefully only after something goes wrong, which is when a missed clause costs the most. An auto-renewal nobody noticed, an uncapped liability, a termination right that only the other side has — these are found in an hour by a careful reviewer and discovered years later by everyone else. Testing shows whether a candidate reads for risk and prioritises, and that is worth verifying before they sign anything.
What strong Contract Review looks like
- Reads the whole document and finds the clauses that carry risk: term, termination, liability, indemnity, payment, IP, data
- Understands what each clause would mean in a dispute, not just what it says
- Prioritises redlines by consequence and picks battles
- Spots what is missing as well as what is wrong
- Explains implications to non-lawyers in plain terms
- Knows when to escalate to counsel
- Documents positions and negotiates changes constructively
Ways to assess Contract Review
Marked-up contract review
Provide a supplier or customer agreement with planted issues — auto-renewal with long notice, one-sided termination, uncapped liability, broad IP assignment, missing data terms. Ask for a prioritised list of issues, proposed changes, and what they would escalate. Sixty minutes.
Pros
Cons
Best for Any level.
Explain-to-the-business exercise
Give a clause and ask for a plain-English explanation of its business consequence.
Pros
Cons
Best for Commercial roles.
AI-scored assessment (e.g. Cohesyve)
Generate a contract review task from the job description — a clause-risk review, a redline prioritisation, an implication explanation — with a rubric. Each candidate receives a different variant; the reasoning is scored alongside the work.
Pros
Cons
Best for Screening an applicant pool fairly before interview time is spent.
Negotiation of redlines
Role-play the counterparty rejecting a redline and ask how they respond.
Pros
Cons
Best for Senior roles.
Cohesyve
Run a Contract Review assessment on your next opening
Cohesyve generates a unique Contract Review task per candidate from your job description, with the scoring rubric attached. Questions are different for every applicant, so they cannot be shared or looked up.
What to test
Risk identification
Whether they find what matters.
Understanding
Whether they know what clauses mean.
Prioritisation
Whether they pick battles.
Communication
Whether the business understands.
Sample Contract Review questions
What clauses do you read first, and why?
EntryLook for Term and termination, liability and indemnity, payment, IP, data; because they determine exposure.
The contract auto-renews with 180 days' notice. Why does that matter?
EntryLook for Easy to miss the window; locked in for another term; propose shorter notice or reminders.
Liability is uncapped on our side and capped for them. What do you do?
MidLook for Flag as high priority, propose mutual caps tied to contract value, escalate if refused.
The counterparty rejects three of your five redlines. How do you proceed?
MidLook for Hold the ones with real consequence, trade the rest, explain the business reason, escalate if a critical one is refused.
When do you involve counsel?
SeniorLook for Unusual clauses, regulated matters, high value, indemnities and IP beyond standard; not for every contract.
Red flags
- Reads only the commercial terms
- Cannot explain indemnity
- Redlines everything equally
- Misses what is absent
- Never escalates, or always does
Scoring rubric
| Criterion | Weight | What strong looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Risk identification | 35% | Key clauses and omissions found. |
| Understanding | 25% | Consequences explained correctly. |
| Prioritisation | 25% | Redlines ranked by consequence. |
| Communication | 15% | Plain, constructive, actionable. |
Mistakes hiring teams make
- Testing legal vocabulary rather than risk-finding
- Not planting an omission
- Rewarding the longest list of redlines
- Skipping the escalation question
- Assuming a law degree guarantees commercial judgement
Roles that need Contract Review
Common questions
Do I need a lawyer to score a contract review test?
For planted issues, no. For nuanced judgement on senior roles, a legal reviewer helps.
What is the best single contract review question?
Ask what they read first and why. The order reveals whether they think in risk.
How long should a contract review assessment take?
Sixty minutes for a full review; fifteen for a clause explanation.
Should the contract be one of ours?
A generic template with planted issues is fairer and easier to score consistently.
Cohesyve · Skill assessments for hiring
Test Contract Review before the first interview
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