Letter governance

Every letter follows the path you set.

Pathways govern when a letter can be edited, reviewed, redlined and sent for signature and who can perform actions. The right reviewers see it in the right order, and approved language stays approved — before anything reaches your client.

One letter, five gates
✓ Draft
✓ Edit
Review
Redline
Sign
Signature stays unavailable while a gate is open
Approved language Protected at every gate
Letter Content Editable by the people you name
Pathways

Governance, gate by gate

A pathway is a sequence of permissions, not a checklist. At every stage ENGAGE decides what can be done — and by whom.

01 Draft created The drafter gets a clean, complete starting point.
02 Edit window Shape the commercial terms freely — approved language holds.
03 Internal review The right reviewers see it at the right moment, in order.
04 Client redline Clients collaborate however they like — you stay in control.
05 Sent for signature Cleared to send, routed and filed back on its own.
What ENGAGE enforces Editing sits with the drafting attorney at this stage.

ENGAGE builds the letter from intake tokens and the clauses your Terms of Business require. The pathway starts the moment the draft exists — not when someone remembers to start it.

External redlining

Let the client redline. Either way.

Some clients will work in your portal. Some will always want the Word document. ENGAGE supports both and keeps them in parity — the same clauses, the same tracked changes, the same audit trail.

E
In the ENGAGE app Client edits in the live document
A secure link, no account sprawl. The client sees just their letter. Every change attributed and timestamped as it happens. Sending for signature is gated until redlines are approved by the proper approvers.
W
Or keep it simple — in Word Download, redline, upload back
Exported through the same engine that renders in‑app, so formatting holds. Tracked changes from Word are read on upload and mapped back into engage for auditable changes without the inconvenience to your clients. Returns to the same pathway stage it left.
PARITY Both routes land in one version of the letter, at one stage of one pathway, with one audit trail. There is no “email copy” to reconcile.
The original letter stays as it is until approved Client redlines sit alongside the letter as proposed changes — they are held apart from it. The letter of record changes only once a reviewer approves the change and the pathway says the letter is ready.
Template control

Change a template without wondering who used the old one.

Every letter is bound to the template version and clause set it was generated from. Publish a new version and unsent letters pick it up; sent letters keep their history intact.

Edit approval. Template changes route for review before they can be published. Permissions. Who may author, who may publish, who may simply use. Clause updates travel. Revise language once in the library and, on approval, it reaches every template that uses it and every letter still unsent. Less sprawl. Compose scenarios from clauses instead of forking templates.
Engagement letter Version lineage
v4 · In force
Published by an approver Applied to every unsent letter automatically
v3 · Retired
Executed letters still reference it Frozen exactly as signed — openable in one click
v2 · Retired
Superseded, with its letters intact No letter loses its history

Governance sits on top of the whole lifecycle

At drafting Data arrives ready Names, dates, fees and matter detail arrive from intake as tokens, so figures reach the letter without being retyped by hand.
In the language Approved wording automatically added Approved clauses surface for the matter at hand, so drafters reach for firm language rather than a previous letter or retyping.
Against firm standards Deviations surface before review Terms of Business checks run as the letter is built, so a reviewer sees exceptions rather than hunting for them.
At volume Scale keeps its review points Generate hundreds of letters at once and each one still enters its own pathway, with its own gates and reviewers.
At signature The record closes itself Signature routes out and the executed letter files back to your DMS with its full history — no manual filing step to forget.
When language changes One clause edit reaches everything unsent Update wording in the clause library and, once approved, it flows to the templates that use it and to letters still in flight. Letters already sent keep the language they were signed with.