I believe it will follow a similar path to other apps (especially banking apps) — they tend to evolve into "super apps." I think this is also the future for CLM and legal tools, as they too will develop into super apps.
Currently, there are hundreds of agreement tools, each addressing different parts of the user journey.
Let’s break them down and explore the trends in each area: contract management, eSign API + Integrations, Invoicing and integrated payments, Legal co-pilots.
1️⃣ Contract management
This covers everything we think of as 'signing documents online.'
Pre-signature — contract builders, templates, file uploads, drafting in the browser, recipient management.
Negotiation — workflows, version control, redlining, collaborative work, track changes.
Post-signature — due date reminders, storage, search.
🤨 Trends in contract management:
The trends remain largely the same as I saw five years ago — every contract management tool aspires to be Microsoft Word but never quite achieves that, nor will they. This isn’t to say they shouldn’t try, but even with advancements in AI, it will take a long time to match what Word offers. And tbh I don't believe we even need that level of functionality in CLM tools.
2️⃣ eSign API + Integrations
More complex business cases require significant flexibility. Companies need to implement contracts directly within their workflows, triggering creation and sending based on specific events. They also need to store their data on-premises, without relying on the infrastructure provided by CLMs.
Another scenario involves tools enabling users to work with contracts through their UI. Take a tool like Deel, for example — eventually, they will need to choose between building contract management functionality in-house or finding an external solution to embed.
🤨 Trends in eSign API and integrations:
The market still lacks tools that prioritize the developer experience. Many existing tools were built years ago, with their APIs being an afterthought, leading to poor documentation and inadequate SDKs. Newer tools often lack maturity. It’s like using SendGrid for emails — it was great until developers discovered Resend and never looked back.
This is the gap that Sendforsign was created to fill — we see substantial room for improvement in contract APIs.
3️⃣ Invoicing and integrated payments
Once you sign an agreement, a payment should follow. Whether it’s receivable or payable, it should all be managed in a unified system. If the payment doesn’t happen, there should be mechanisms in place to address it.
🤨 Trends in invoicing:
Many tools offer Stripe links and invoicing within contract management, but the experience is still disjointed. Even though invoices may exist within the same UI as contracts, they’re rarely integrated seamlessly. This is where CLMs need to evolve — seamless integration of payments and contracts is the future.
4️⃣ Legal co-pilots
This area is often viewed as separate from CLM. It involves data extraction, working with third-party documents, risk analysis, document drafting and comparison, intelligent search, governance, citations, cross-domain research… there’s a lot more to it than we often realize.
🤨 Trends in legal co-pilots:
AI, AI, AI — yes, it’s everywhere. We're at Sendforsign investing heavily in researching how AI can truly assist lawyers, and it's clear we're on the verge of a breakthrough. However, I'm not yet impressed with how tools like ChatGPT are currently used as legal co-pilots. While they save time in some cases, the real impact will come when AI is no longer just a feature but deeply integrated into legal processes as a core product. And that’s what excites me the most.