The Origins of oneNDA

Back in 2020 in the thick of the pandemic, I was in my second year of running TLB, a legal

consultancy. Our main offering at the time was outsourced contract review to in-house

lawyers and our business grew exponentially during this time as no one was hiring and

everyone had lots of contracts to review.

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At the end of the year, we did a deep dive into what it is that we were doing and found that

63% of the agreements we’d reviewed were NDAs - but that only accounted for 7% of our

revenue. Which is of course ridiculous. NDAs were creating huge redundancy and weren’t

serving anyone. And for a document that hardly gets litigated, is low risk and repetitive, we

just couldn’t see the ROI.

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So I put an idea out on LinkedIn - what if we had a single standard NDA that we all agreed

to adopt as our own organisational template. No more battle of the forms and no more

endless redlines. How much time, money and headaches would we save?

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The response
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The response to this single post was phenomenal. And within a few months, the idea turned

into reality. Together with a Steering Committee that included top law firms like Linklaters,

A&O and Freshfields as well as in-house counsel from household names like Google,

Coca-Cola and EasyJet, we created the first version of oneNDA. This version was then peer

reviewed by 1200 lawyers and once their feedback was collated, we issued v1 of oneNDA in

August 2021.

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Today, oneNDA has been adopted by thousands of organisations of all types and sizes and

we estimate that oneNDA gets signed millions times a year.‍ But oneNDA has always been

more than just a document. From day one, the vision was bigger. We wanted to create an

industry movement that didn’t just simplify NDAs but fundamentally changed how contracts

are done—making them faster, simpler, and less of a headache for lawyers everywhere.

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Realising our vision
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In October 2024, oneNDA was acquired by Law Insider, the world’s largest contract and

clauses library. With over millions of monthly registered users, Law Insider gives us the

platform to amplify our visibility to make oneNDA the go-to standard.

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Together we are evolving oneNDA from a Standard as a Document to a Standard as a

Framework. We’re building a system that adapts, learns, and improves over time, just like

the contracts it’s designed to manage.

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But perhaps more importantly, this is not your typical tech-first solution we see so much of in

our industry - it’s an incredibly powerful combination of community, rich data andstandardisation layered with tech to deliver something this industry has not seen before. And

I believe this combination is the only way to fix the very broken ‘contract problem’ that we

face today.

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Law Insider Standards Library

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oneNDA will mark the first Standard template to live in the Law Insider Standards Library, an

expansive contract standards and playbook library all of which will be available for free.

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The future of oneNDA and beyond

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As we look ahead, the story of oneNDA is just beginning. What started as a simple idea to

solve a common problem has now evolved into something far greater - a movement that is

redefining how we approach contracts. With Law Insider, we have the reach, resources, and

community to make this vision a reality. But it’s not just about creating a better NDA; it’s

about reshaping the future of legal standards for good. Together, we’re building a world

where contracts are no longer burdens but powerful, adaptable tools that serve us all. The

journey has been incredible, and the future is limitless.

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Thank you for being part of this journey 🙏

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