While automation and interconnectivity have the potential to unlock significant business value, they do introduce a number of risks not reflected in traditional contracts. 

1. Legally enforceable – smart legal contracts contain the agreement in natural language and are therefore able to be interpreted against the usual contract law rules, in contrast to classic 'smart contracts'.
2. Negotiated with code in mind – Clauses are negotiated to be amenable to automation, and risks are considered when drafting, unlike with after-the-fact, ad hoc business process automation.
3. Connected with digital twins – smart legal contracts can be connected with digital twins of real world events, letting you track what is happening from a single source of truth.
4. Usable with, but separate from, blockchain – smart legal contracts can be integrated with blockchain where there is no trusted intermediary between the parties, but can also operate separately where trust exists (which simplifies the tech stack).
5. Legally enforceable – smart legal contracts contain the agreement in natural language and are therefore able to be interpreted against the usual contract law rules, in contrast to classic 'smart contracts'.

These features mean that smart legal contracts may be used to effectively automate the functions of certain clauses, which can help reduce the costs of contract management, increase contractual compliance, and make contract performance more efficient. By linking to digital twins, smart legal contracts can also help provide improved insight into contractual obligations and point-in-time states.

While automation and interconnectivity have the potential to unlock significant business value, they do introduce a number of risks not reflected in traditional, paper-based contracts managed by humans. For example, they are vulnerable to bugs, poor data, and the unintended consequences arising from the automatic application of rules. Smart legal contracts are, however, drafted with this automation in mind, which facilitates the consideration and mitigation of these risks during the contract creation process.