Editorial Policy

Ownership & Conflict of Interest

This blog is published by Shepherdstack LLC, the company behind Pact, an AI-powered contract review tool. We disclose this relationship because it represents a material conflict of interest: we have a financial incentive to present AI contract review favorably.

We address this conflict through structural safeguards described below, not by claiming objectivity we cannot guarantee.

Content Labeling

Every article carries a visible label indicating its type:

• Editorial — Independent analysis not tied to product promotion. These articles may discuss Pact's category but do not promote Pact specifically.
• Guide — Educational content explaining legal concepts, contract clauses, or workflows.
• Comparison — Tool evaluations using our standardized methodology (see below). Pact is either excluded or scored using the same framework as every other tool.
• Research — Original data analysis with disclosed methodology and limitations.
• Product — Content directly related to Pact features, updates, or use cases.

Evaluation Methodology

Comparison and review articles follow a standardized framework:

• Evaluation criteria and their weights are defined upfront and displayed in the article.
• Each score includes an explanation of how it was derived, including test dataset size, contract types used, and evaluation process.
• If Pact is included in a comparison, it receives the same scoring treatment as every other tool — no preferential weighting or selective criteria.

Standards for Claims & Statistics

Quantitative claims in our articles must meet one of two standards:

• External citation — linked to a primary source (academic paper, government report, or named industry study).
• Internal study — with methodology, sample size, and limitations disclosed inline.

Unsourced statistics are removed. If a claim cannot be verified, we reframe it as analysis or remove the number entirely.

Authorship & Credentials

Each article displays the author's name, credentials, and any relevant conflicts of interest. Author profiles are accessible from every article. We are actively expanding our contributor base to include practicing attorneys, legal operations professionals, and in-house counsel.

Vendor Influence

No external vendor can influence our editorial coverage. We do not accept payment for reviews, placement in comparison articles, or favorable treatment. Tool vendors are not given advance notice of coverage or the opportunity to edit our evaluations.

Content Structure

Articles follow an analytical structure: problem, analysis, trade-offs, and conclusion. Calls-to-action are separated from editorial content and placed only in page headers and footers, never inline within article prose.

Corrections

If we publish incorrect information, we correct it and note the correction with a date. If you believe an article contains an error or an unsourced claim, please contact us.

What This Policy Does Not Claim

This blog is vendor-owned. No editorial policy eliminates that structural conflict. What this policy does is make the conflict visible, apply consistent methodology, and give readers the information they need to evaluate our content critically.