In this installment of Contract Heroes, we had a chat with contracting superstar Nada Alnajafi. Nada has been practicing law in-house for about 12 years, working mainly in the tech industry. She enjoys handling contracts throughout all phases of the process, from drafting to negotiating, even stating that contracts are her favorite part of the job. During our conversation, we discuss her blog (Contract Nerds) success, tons of tips around red lining, and her book: Contract Redlining Etiquette. 

Building an in-house legal team from the ground up with Jack Terschluse We recently sat down to chat with Jack Terschluse, the corporate counsel for Balto based in St. Louis. Jack started his career at a large law firm, however, once the pandemic transitioned everyone into remote work, new opportunities became available and he moved to the in-house side of the law. He accepted a position as corporate counsel for Balto as a legal team of one and has since helped their team grow the legal department into what it is today. During our conversation we discussed: - Tips & tricks for a legal team of one - How to successfully build a business case and implement a CLM solution - How to build out a legal ops team at your organization

Tips for Developing Soft Skills with Patrick BarryIn this episode of Contract Heroes, we had a chat with soft skills specialist, Patrick Barry. Patrick has been working in-house as Associate General Counsel with Emerson Electric (more specifically their Commercial Residential Solutions subdivision) for 12 years. He explained that his role involves supporting the Emerson businesses in order to help them negotiate efficient and well-understood contracts by acting as a business partner with them. The ultimate goal is to create contracts that make the business happy while ensuring that customers and vendors always understand exactly what is expected of them.Slightly different from our usual conversations, our focus during our chat with Patrick was on his list of 6 soft skills that lawyers and sales associates can use to cut through the bureaucracy involved in the contracting process and make sure negotiations run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Read on to dive deeper into Patrick’s tips and how you can start applying them for yourself and your organization.1. Find Commonality With the Other SideFinding commonality is at the top of Patrick’s list for a reason. It is the first skill he typically recommends to lawyers. Most people on the sales team likely have a natural instinct for finding commonalities in order to sell more efficiently, but lawyers may not be used to taking the time to form connections like these prior to getting into the legal talk. Common ground does not have to be something complex either. In fact, the simpler the better, as it will be easiest for both sides to relate. Patrick recommends checking out the other party’s LinkedIn profile before the first phone call in order to locate that commonality and use it to bond right away. Whether it be the weather or attending the same school, bringing up common ground early on in the conversation sets a positive tone for the rest of the negotiations and makes it easier to work through any complicated issues that may arise later.2. Figure Out Your QuarterbackPatrick next emphasized the importance of knowing who is the quarterback on your side of negotiations. Many might automatically assume a lawyer is a quarterback, but in some cases, it could be the sales or procurement departments. It is essential to determine who is the number one priority, and who is the person who has this agreement as to the first thing on their desk. Without a clear indication of the quarterback, negotiations can quickly become jumbled, and not everyone understands the game plan that will allow you to get across the goal line.In fact, it is often the case that lawyers should not be quarterbacks, as they typically do not need to be involved with every contract. Coaching up the sales and procurement employees to know exactly when consulting the legal team is a necessity can be extremely helpful for keeping lawyers sane and putting more power in the hands of the business people. For example, NDAs are very standard documents. Utilizing a CLM tool to assist with the drafting process and simplifying the language of clauses can allow sales and procurement employees to handle standardized NDAs without needing to consult the legal department about them.3. Size Up PersonalitiesUnderstanding the personalities of everyone involved in the negotiation is another key soft skill to emphasize. You should strive to understand the personalities not only of people from other organizations but also of your own internal employees as well. If you anticipate early on or even before initiating a conversation that this person may be aggressive or stubborn with you, you can plan ahead with effective strategies to handle that behavior and still create a productive conversation.4. Minimize RedlinesRedlines are viewed very differently by the sales team and the legal team. Lawyers likely see them as a typical part of the negotiation process while business employees are more likely to view them as an inconvenience. Patrick explained that minimizing the number of redlines often leads to much smoother agreements, as it often avoids weeks of extraneous negotiation. For example, suppose you can spend an extra 10 minutes with a document and only change a few words rather than deleting an entire paragraph. In that case, it will be extremely helpful for avoiding frustrations, hang-ups, and confusion on both sides.One of our hosts, Pepe, shared an example from his experience working at a bigger law firm. He recounted that he received a document from a client to review and did not see any problems with it, so he sent it back to his partner saying just that. His partner, however, was shocked and could not believe that they would be billed for reviewing the document without providing any changes. Many lawyers have this same stigma in their heads and may believe that if they do not make changes, then it may seem that they have not properly reviewed the document. This is not the case. In fact, making fewer changes will help the deal move forward faster and keep the client happy.5. Prioritize UpfrontSetting priorities with all involved parties is another important soft skill. Before lawyers spend weeks redlining a document, Patrick encourages the sales or procurement team to spend 10 minutes deciding the top 5 issues that are deal-breakers within the agreement. If those issues cannot be resolved, then it is not even worth looking at the rest of the document. Outlining these priorities in exact detail prevents lawyers from having to guess what the main issues are. Guesses typically lead to wasted time and an insurmountable roadblock in the end. The goal is to avoid spending time on less important negotiable terms and instead prioritize those which actually bring more value to the contract.6. View All Terms as Commercial TermsThe final soft skills tip that Patrick gave us was to view all contract terms as commercial terms. In this way, you can make sure that the business employees are involved with the agreement and understand the terms from their own perspectives. You do not want sales and procurement teams to view the legal department simply as a roadblock that impedes their attempts at making deals. In fact, business employees can often be the best advocates for lawyers and important contract terms once they have an understanding of them, as they can take that knowledge back to their own department and explain why the terms need to be negotiated in the first place. Lawyers should be viewed as business enablers instead of as roadblocks. After all, the ultimate goal of the contracts being drafted is to create a new commercial relationship with an outside party, so viewing items in commercial terms instead of only in legal terms can be extremely helpful to everyone working on the agreement from all sides.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Patrick Barry, he can be found on LinkedIn and is always excited to share stories or chat about experiences in the legal community.

Contract Heroes with Roland VoglIn this installment of Contract Heroes, we had a chat with a long-term partner in the legal tech space, Roland Vogl. Roland is the executive director of CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, which is a joint center between the law school and the computer science department at Stanford University in California. The mission of CodeX is to bring information technology to the legal system in order to make work more efficient for all kinds of stakeholders.Born and raised in the Austrian mountains, Roland grew up with the intention of practicing law in Austria. However, once he was introduced to the international climate while studying abroad in the UK, he quickly decided to seek out global work, eventually partnering with European institutions in Brussels. There, he became interested in privacy law and data protection, a major point of contention in the late 90s, and ended up attending Stanford University for his Masters program. After working at a tech law firm, he found an opportunity to rejoin Stanford as a teaching fellow in a new program focused on law science and technology. During his time at Stanford in the past 20 years, he helped co-found CodeX and has been involved in the overall growth and development of legal technology and computational law.Throughout our conversation with Roland, we learned all about the foundation of CodeX while also gaining some insight into how legal tech has changed over the years from his perspective working intimately in the space. Read on to hear more about some of Roland’s unique experiences as well as some tips he shared for lawyers and law students looking to involve themselves in a less traditional career path.The History of CodeXTo kick things off, we wanted to know a little more about how CodeX came to be and how it has evolved over time. Roland began by explaining that about 15 years ago, they held a workshop at Stanford in which his former boss co-taught a course on computers and law. At the time, the internet was starting to take off which meant there were more data available as well as new legal modeling and knowledge representation techniques. They decided that it would be an excellent time to devote attention to these topics and came up with the idea to create CodeX. The name CodeX itself stems from the intersection of legal code and computer code (and the fact that several other centers at Stanford also used “X” in their titles). The second part of the name, “Stanford Center for Legal Informatics,” was a bit of a toss-up at first, as they had trouble choosing between the phrases “legal informatics” and “computational law.” While the center's main focus involves the automation of legal reasoning (which is essentially computational law), they wanted to be inclusive of other techniques as well, landing on the phrase “legal informatics” instead.The center experienced a swell of interest in new approaches from around 2008 to 2010, and they began holding weekly group meetings for more and more people to pitch their ideas. Over time, CodeX became not just about research, but also about building a community in which people could discuss their ideas with like-minded individuals. It showcased the power of making a network. This eventually led to the establishment of the Future Law Conference about 10 years ago, which is a flagship program that seeks out important trends to pay attention to in the legal innovation community. It offers a platform for people to showcase their work and share their expertise while meeting others involved in similar spaces. April 2022 was the first time the conference was held in person since the start of the pandemic, and Roland encourages everyone to check out recently released videos documenting the conference.The Evolution of Legal TechSince Roland has been involved in the legal tech realm for a while, we asked him to tell us about how the space has evolved over the years from his perspective. He explained that it is difficult to pinpoint one exact area that has changed because the space as a whole has exploded with growth. We have provided a list of the innovations that he described across a huge variety of divisions all located within the legal tech space:- Law schools: Awareness has exploded for law schools, which have begun figuring out how to teach legal tech and computational law to their students and properly integrate it into the curriculum.- Law firms: Looking to change the way they deliver services to their clients as a result of more pressure from clients to be efficient and deliver services in a tech-enabled way. Creating new services for clients like predicting legal outcomes and computational law systems that allow them to navigate through a workflow and receive legal answers via machine.-  In-house departments: Using legal tech to improve how they serve their internal clients and keep costs at bay while not having to reinvent the wheel over and over with each newly drafted document.- Courts: Looking for innovation in providing a better user experience for litigants.- Government: Employing AI systems across various agencies.Roland also mentioned a research project being conducted that focused on using computational law and computational contracts in the insurance space in order to generate a better experience for consumers. Clearly, legal tech can reach into any number of different places and will continue to extend into new communities. In fact, Roland stated that it is an exciting time to be a lawyer who knows how to integrate technology.Tips for Legal Tech Startups & New Career PathsTo wrap up this amazing conversation, Roland shared his knowledge about founding a startup and a few unique career paths available to those looking for something a little different from the traditional legal paths. Here are a few of his valuable entrepreneurial tips:- Startups bring out the best and worst in people, so find teammates who share your values.- Listen closely to the customer. Do not operate in a bubble and come up with big theoretical ideas without checking back with customers first to make sure it caters to what they really want.- Build both your dedication and your ability to overcome adversity.- Fail fast and fail often because oftentimes the best way to learn is through trial and error.- Match up a legal expert who knows the shortcomings of their area with a technologist who has the right skills to engineer a solution to those problems.In terms of exciting and innovative career paths outside of the typical law firms, in-house counsel, and academia, Roland recommended looking at areas like contract lifecycle management (CLM) and e-Discovery. Even if you are not interested in going the competitive startup route, there are plenty of jobs available at existing companies as a legal technologist.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Roland Vogl, you can check out the CodeX website or email him at [email protected] to set up a time to discuss any and all things legal tech-related.

Contract Heroes with Nick RishwainIn this installment of Contract Heroes, we sat down to chat with fellow legal tech podcaster, Nick Rishwain. Nick started his show, LegalTechLIVE, in 2015, when the realm of legal technology was still in the process of ramping up. Though he is currently on hiatus from the show, they have a log of 130 episodes, all showcasing fascinating interviews with founders of legal tech companies and startups. Nick first became interested in exploring the expanding universe of legal tech as a result of his employment with Experts.com, a marketing platform for expert witnesses and business consultants. The site started out somewhat akin to a directory but has since evolved into much more, allowing expert witnesses to market themselves to attorneys, businesses, and industries, and even offering flat fee searches for attorneys who do not want to perform searches themselves. Nick has been working there in a legal tech role for about 12 years and has done his podcast for 7 years. The idea for LegalTechLIVE struck him because he wanted to get to know other people in the industry and become more involved in the legal tech space. By promoting founders and the new, exciting things they were working on, he was able to network and build a community.Read on to hear some of the highlights from our chat with Nick, including his perspective on how legal tech has evolved over the years and some excellent tips for marketing with lawyers.The Evolution of Legal TechSince Nick has been involved in legal tech for 12 years, we wanted to kick off our conversation by hearing about the changes that occurred in the industry from his perspective, as both a podcaster and a member of the workforce. He explained that when he started it felt like most products were primarily eDiscovery, law practice management, or case management, but the industry has broadened significantly since then. There were only a few AI-based legal research tools receiving attention back in 2015, with CLM not even being a phrase utilized until a few years later. The startup space for legal research and IT solutions for offices, in particular, was not very vibrant when he first began the podcast. Nick stated that there has been both a broadening and a narrowing when it comes to the evolution of legal technology. The variety of tools and the number of concepts that now fall under the blanket of legal tech have most certainly broadened. Tools now are created with any number of unique purposes in mind, whether they are geared more toward a specific area such as compliance or justice, or they are designed to perform a specific function like managing text communications between lawyers and clients or innovating court reporting and legal intelligence. Some tools are created to go directly to the consumer while others are meant to be more enterprise-driven. All-in-all, the market is saturated with a huge amount of software, with many more options than were available in 2015.The narrowing aspect comes into play when you consider what companies are prioritizing. As more options for tools become available with each one having its own unique perks and quirks, organizations can be more specific about what they want their legal tech software to accomplish within the company. An organization no longer needs to select from one or two extremely broad tools but rather can hone in on software that prioritizes the current and future needs of the company. In this way, legal tech solutions have both blossomed and somewhat narrowed in their scope.Building a CommunityWe asked Nick to tell us a little bit about how he built up the community around LegalTechLIVE and how he went about finding guests to interview at the start. He explained that he was always most interested in speaking with legal tech founders before they became a big deal, those who were working on startups or series A companies. He did plenty of reading about the legal tech realm in general, which led him to find a number of people he could reach out to for interviews. He also utilized Google Alerts and social media like Twitter and LinkedIn to build connections with his peers and start making friends in the industry. In fact, he found searching through the legal tech hashtag on Twitter to be helpful as well.Nick also stated that he typically sought out people who had new, exciting ideas about legal tech. There may have been hundreds of startups that all had the same concept, but Nick chose to highlight those who stood out with something more unique that had not already been done a thousand times. For example, many of the tools and services existed outside the legal realm already, but creative innovations needed to be made when adapting that software to work specifically for legal practices. Adding legal to a solution is essential if you want to be able to sell it to attorneys, and incorporating those aspects seamlessly could be quite difficult.Laughing, Nick added that his superpower, if he has one, is promoting people and making friends. Since the start of his career as a podcaster, he has been able to help promote a number of founders and has even kept in touch with some, creating long-lasting friendships. Thanks to his expertise and the way he has built his reputation, some guests have even started to come to him to be interviewed instead of him reaching out first.Tips for Selling to LawyersTo wrap up our chat with Nick, we asked him to give a few tips to our viewers who may frequently find themselves trying to sell to lawyers. Ironically, his first tip was not to sell to lawyers at all, if you can avoid it! Instead, look for other stakeholders in the company, even paralegals or legal assistants. After all, many solutions will be enterprise solutions that help departments outside of just legal, so getting your foot in the door with these other departments may make it easier to finalize the deal. He also advised not to call lawyers on the phone to try to sell to them, as this can eat into their already packed schedules and leave a bad taste in their mouths. Keeping them in your email campaign and waiting for them to make the move on their own time is usually a better option. The final tip Nick provided was to attempt to integrate your legal tech solution into the company’s existing workflow, such as Microsoft Word or Outlook. Software that fits rather seamlessly into the established practices may sometimes be received more openly than stand-alone software.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere and valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Nick Rishwain, he is available on Twitter @LegalTechLIVE. You can also find episodes of his podcast on Apple, Spotify, and his website, https://legaltechlive.com.

Building the Bridge Between Business and Legal with Dan HendyThis episode of Contract Heroes featured Dan Hendy, the Executive Vice President of Corporate and Commercial Solutions at UnitedLex. Dan has been working in legal operations since 2015 when he was first introduced to a legal ops role while employed at GE. Throughout our conversation, Dan shared his experiences with how the world of legal operations has evolved since its early days as well as some of the biggest mistakes and most valuable outcomes he has noticed during CLM implementations.Evolution of Legal OperationsSince Dan has been hard at work in the legal ops world for 7 years now, we decided to start the show by picking his brain to find out more about how legal ops has evolved in his eyes and what it was like at its genesis. He explained he was interested in taking on his role at GE because he noticed a lot of moving parts in the legal department just were not working. The desire to fix these issues is a huge part of how legal ops began. As legal departments expanded, it became clear that they too would need a way to manage budgets, filter projects from other parts of the organization, and leverage spending on outside counsel. Back then, they were unable to collect operational data on the throughput and performance of the law department, making it difficult to meet today’s expectations of the legal team being governed the same way a CFO might run a finance department. Currently, legal ops are headed in a direction that builds the legal team as a business enabler. The chief legal officer is expected to present more than just details about individual cases being handled by the legal department. Instead, they must quantitatively show the impact they are having on the business via the data collected from contracts. This elevates legal team leaders and senior lawyers to the status of business partners, making them more credible with their peers and garnering well-deserved respect from other departments.In summary, legal ops have evolved from merely managing outside counsel and your stack of technology to now having the proper data to make strategic decisions about how to run and structure the legal department.Building the Bridge Between Business and LegalDan then gave us an excellent analogy to illustrate how a CLM solution can help the legal team provide better and more satisfying interactions with other departments who may have previously been hesitant to approach in-house counsel with their contract issues. Bringing up a handful of different food apps, he mentioned the concept of real-time tracking and how much it does to improve customer experience. By simply viewing the app, you can see where your food is and how long it will be until it arrives. A CLM solution can provide similar information for requests submitted to the legal team.For example, if another department needs an opinion on a contract from someone in the legal team, they can submit their request and then have the ability to check the status of that request as well as who is handling it. Providing that visibility in real-time of how the task is being managed from within the legal department goes a long way in building the bridge between departments. It indicates the standard for different types of requests, allows lawyers to prioritize certain tasks, and gives others an idea of how long they can expect to wait before they hear back. In this way, the legal team clearly sets up and manages the expectations being placed on them.The Biggest Mistakes During CLM ImplementationAs we often discuss here on Contract Heroes, one of the biggest mistakes a company can make is to purchase a CLM tool without first fixing their contract processes, thus automating broken processes and wasting valuable time and resources. Dan provided us with an extremely helpful list of ways to avoid mistakes like this while implementing your own CLM solution.- Start with your desired outcomes and work backward. What does the system need to produce by the end of the implementation? Utilize the “5 Whys Rule.” Choose an outcome that you think is a necessity, such as “I need to track approvals.” Ask yourself why you need to track approvals. “I need to show an audit trail.” Why do you need to show an audit trail? Keep following the statement back until you illuminate the real purpose, eventually reaching a much simpler process.- Engage stakeholders and encourage executive sponsorship. A senior stakeholder in the company must make the implementation a priority and push people to adopt it. Without that backup from important groups outside of just legal, it will be difficult to make people excited about the change.- Understand your contract processes. Not every contract process is created equal, so they should not all be treated the same. One out of hundreds of business associate agreements will not require the same attention as an 80-page agreement that takes 6 months to negotiate and is the driving force of your revenue. Pay attention to the differences in the processes and build the discipline to manage them properly.Finding the Value of CLM for Your BusinessDan explained that there are generally two goals when it comes to CLM implementation: improving the employee experience or creating value via the use of technology. Clients need to sit down and figure out their motivating force for utilizing a CLM solution and how their business values that force before they begin the implementation itself. He went on to provide 3 illustrations of how different types of organizations may find value in their tech solution.- Growth organizations: The motivation for a company that is focused on growth is speed and efficiency. They need to be able to process contracts quickly in order to gain more revenue. The focus may be on quantifying the timeline of the contract process and finding ways to speed it up.- Big organizations: Established companies are often overrun with legacy contracts and may have no idea what information is locked away inside them. Moving all these documents into a repository and focusing on tracking certain data points within those contracts may help to identify areas where value erosion is occurring. The focus here may be on counteracting the value erosion that comes when you lack transparency in your contract portfolio.- Compliance organizations: Companies that work in a higher-risk environment may need to prioritize the avoidance of litigation and commercial issues. Though this is harder to quantify than the other examples, CFOs are particularly understanding of the fact that not having a direct line of sight into your contract data can create unnecessary risks in the organization.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Dan Hendy, you can easily reach him on LinkedIn. 

The Contract Management QuadrantIn this installment of Contract Heroes, we had the opportunity to chat with none other than Krzysztof Kwiatek, the associate director at Deloitte Legal located in Kraków, Poland. Kris works in legal management consulting and runs the technology center of excellence, mostly focusing his time on CLM tool implementations. His induction into the world of CLM occurred in 2014 when he began working to manage the tech aspect of the new contract management team at Capgemini. Kris has 20 years of experience in widely understood IT and has spent the last 8 years involved specifically in contract lifecycle management. With Kris’s experience in implementing CLM software in mind, we focused our conversation around gaining his advice about successful implementations with high user adoption rates while also learning a bit more about how to go about choosing from the wide variety of CLM solutions currently available on the market.Deploying a PilotTo kick off the discussion, we first asked Kris to tell us about his view of contracts and why CLM is important to every organization. He explained that since contracts and services are everywhere, permeating nearly every inch of an organization, and they need to be signed more and more often, the process surrounding them must be efficient. Contracts are touched by everyone in the company, but they are not owned by one specific department. Even though practically every other process within a company may already be automated, from ERPs to HR, the contracting process, not home to anyone department, was often overlooked. However, there are two main reasons that automation is so beneficial for contracting processes: signing contracts faster and quickly extracting information that you need at the moment you need it. Even if you are only able to implement a contract repository at the start, you are still going to start seeing the benefits of faster searches, tracking approvals, and learning how to make your contract process more efficient.Kris then took us through the implementation process, beginning with a pilot or minimum viable product (MVP). The goal of an MVP is to narrow the scope of the system, usually to just one template or one department, in order to gauge how well it will fit a company’s needs. In fact, these needs are what must be detailed before the pilot can even commence. The organization and the implementation team must first come to an agreement internally about the success criteria for the tool and what it will be expected to fix. Without these criteria in place, it will be impossible to measure the software’s actual success throughout the pilot and determine whether or not it will be properly deployed.Kris explained that deploying the pilot quickly is a must and that it needs to be deployed to real users who can provide real feedback. Outside of a contract repository, the MVP will typically include two integrations (single sign-on and E-signatures), one or two templates (NDA and another which must be used for the duration of the pilot), and a limited group of about 100 users who have been properly trained to work with the system. Once the pilot concludes, you are then faced with two options: go deeper into the functionality by extending everything in the same department and testing again, or launching the MVP throughout the whole organization. The latter is the usual choice as long as the pilot was deemed successful.The CLM QuadrantAs we then asked Kris about his experience recommending certain vendors, he constructed a very handy visual when it comes to the different purposes that a CLM tool may be designed to fulfill, which we later deemed the CLM Quadrant. Essentially, CLM solutions are created with one or more of these vantage points on the contract process in mind: buy-side, sell-side, pre-signature, and post-signature. Depending on the needs of your organization, especially placing focus on the must-haves instead of the nice-to-haves, you may look for a solution that adheres to one quadrant more than another. As the tools grow and develop, and your contract processes do as well, you may also find that a tool expands with you down the road, accommodating more aspects of the quadrants than it previously did.Deloitte is tool agnostic, meaning that they do not have their own solution and can provide the client with the best option for them without any bias. Despite being tool agnostic, however, they do remain tool opinionated, with years of experience providing them with enough information to develop preferences between vendors. That being said, Kris does try to have at least two or three solutions available for each shelf of the market, from the biggest organizations to the middle players to the smallest companies too. User AdoptionWith tools, surveys, and questionnaires in hand, Kris and his team have managed to scale down the implementation process to anywhere from three to six weeks, depending on the size of the company. However, even the quickest and most seamless implementations do not always guarantee user adoption of the software. This is where building up hype for the implementation becomes necessary. The closer you get to going live, the more buzz you should be creating around the CLM tool. But, the buzz that you generate cannot come from preaching about small technicalities within the tool because not many people will engage with that. Instead, try sending short videos or animated movies about how great life will be once the CLM solution has been implemented. Almost akin to movie trailers, you need to be making people excited for the final product.The human aspect of implementation plays a huge role in generating buzz and facilitating user adoption. Your test group for the pilot will become the ambassadors to the software, as they are the experts who know exactly how to work it and how much it will increase the quality of life for employees. It falls to them to spread rumors about how great the CLM tool is among their colleagues. The implementation team will be responsible for making sure all questions about the system are addressed in a timely fashion. After the system goes live, it is important to host daily training sessions with an open invitation that allows anyone to join the call and ask questions about how to use the tool. Following up on questions quickly and providing hands-on solutions is the best way to ensure that no one feels left behind or frustrated while working with the new system.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Kris Kwiatek, he is available to message on LinkedIn.

This week’s installment of Contract Heroes brings you invaluable insight from renowned legal operations consultant and founder of InnoLaw, Lucy Bassli. Lucy got her start as a commercial contracts lawyer, eventually moving from a big law firm to working in-house at Microsoft for about 13 years. It was through her work at Microsoft that she discovered her passion for the “how” aspect of her job rather than the “what.” She defines the “how” of working with contracts as finding ways to do them faster, better, and more efficiently. Lucy left Microsoft 4 years ago to start her own consultancy, InnoLaw, where she now works with her team to help corporate law firms better understand how to manage their contracts. Read on to discover just a fraction of the wisdom she shared with us throughout our conversation.AI ExpectationsWith the explosion of contract lifecycle management (CLM) software, many legal-tech conversations have become centered around one common buzzword: AI. However, despite how much the word is thrown around and advertised on the websites of software providers, consumers may still not be aware of what AI currently can and cannot do. We asked Lucy to give us some insight into her experience implementing systems that feature AI and what customers who utilize such software should expect from their program.Lucy began her explanation by stating that contract management boils down to an intricate series of processes and interactions. AI can certainly play a part in these processes and interactions, but you shouldn’t aim to have it replace them entirely. Some CLM providers haven’t been entirely clear about the value of using AI, and this disconnect leads to a lack of understanding about how to successfully implement an AI-driven program. What many first-time AI or CLM solution users may not realize is that AI requires a great deal of human interaction in order to be successful at its tasks. Just as you would train a new employee, you need to teach the AI by feeding it plenty of samples, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of documents. The more samples it has, the better it understands and is able to provide the service that the software company advertised. Essentially, it’s important to be merciful on your AI and not expect too much from it, especially early on in the implementation process.CLM Vendor StandardsBeing the head of her own consultancy, Lucy was able to shed some light on an aspect of CLM solutions that we haven’t had the chance to discuss as often on our show: the screening process for selecting which software to recommend to clients. Since her consultancy is agnostic, they do not have any partnerships with specific companies, meaning that they always do their best to recommend a solution that will be the best fit for the customer without any sort of bias. The first piece of the puzzle when evaluating CLM solutions is, of course, the features and functions, aka the actual technology. Most will be stronger in some phases or areas than others, so it’s important to know which phases are the strong suit for each software in order to choose one that best fits the needs of the customer. The next step is then to evaluate the people behind the product. Getting to know the sales team, as well as the company’s implementation policies, can be a good indicator as to whether or not they’ll be thorough and communicative throughout the process. Typically, she will ask them to prepare a demo for the client to use in order to gain a better feel for how it will work with their practices.For Lucy, evaluating the people behind the product even reaches all the way to the CEO. One way to wade through a sea of potential vendors is to check the backgrounds of the CEOs. Those who have experience in the legal world, have shown some level of passion for the work they’re doing, and put energy or excitement into the advancement of legal-tech are going to be the standout candidates. These are the providers who are more likely to be in it for the long haul instead of merely capitalizing on a current business boom. Providers who showcase stories of consistent customers year after year will generally have higher implementation success rates.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Lucy Bassli, you can easily reach her on LinkedIn

In this installment of Contract Heroes, we had the opportunity to chat with Mat Jakubowski. Mat has over 10 years of legal experience at companies like Thomson Reuters and Dentons. This experience has given him a unique blend of skills that he now uses to both run a legal ops department and also provide world-class Legal Tech training and mentoring to aspiring lawyers and legal professionals at Silvertown Legal. Part of why he made the transition was that he wanted to be involved in the ever-evolving world of legal-tech, branching out beyond the reach of just one company to affect change in a bigger way as the legal industry rapidly advances from manual to digital. At the time that Mat graduated from law school, there was very few off his peers going into the legal-tech space, with the “standard legal path” being road most followed. Now, with so many alternative paths, he is excited to share his experiences working with legal-tech, and we hope that his advice can help both those looking for technology solutions to suit their contract processes as well as those seeking jobs in the vastly expanding legal technology realm.Utilizing Free Tech at Your DisposalTo start things off, we first wanted to see if there were any free technology platforms that Mat could recommend for those who might be just starting to look into adopting legal-tech and are still in the process of evaluating their contract lifecycles. He began by stressing the importance of understanding your processes before looking into integrating a high tech contract lifecycle management (CLM) software, as technology cannot be used properly unless it is applied to good processes. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t utilize smaller technology solutions during your evaluations as well.One of the platforms Mat recommended checking out was the Microsoft Suite, particularly Microsoft Teams. Teams can be of great help when it comes to creating better communication between departments as well as planning out processes and assigning tasks to different team members. Excel, though usually overlooked, can also be used for planning or keeping track of data. It may not always be the most user-friendly experience, but it can still get the job done while you prepare to make the transition to a more detailed software.Mat also suggested utilizing software like Miro in order to visualize your processes as you learn about them. It is much easier to pick apart the details of your contract processes when you have a map or graph of that process that highlights the dependencies, clauses, clients, and even points out who is approving what. This may also help you pick out processes that are currently being handled by senior employees which could be delegated to mid-level or junior employees instead, freeing up more time for senior personnel to devote to more pressing matters. All in all, free tools like these may be of immense usefulness in creating a big picture of your organization, your processes, and what you’re looking to change.Hiring the Right PeopleBut of course, no matter what tools you choose, they cannot be properly utilized without the right people. The next question we posed to Mat asked him to explore how he goes about finding individuals who fit an organization’s unique culture and who are excited to work in an expanding sphere like legal-tech. Conveniently, Mat broke down his answer into 4 key parts, outlining the different traits that he would look for when deciding who to hire:Legal experience: Understanding the legal aspects of the contracting process is extremely important. Even if this legal experience boils down to just a few internships, it helps to have a handle on how legal processes work, such as redlining, the importance of clauses, limitations, liabilities, etc. Certain parts of the contract will be contentious and others will be simple, so you need to know where to spend your time in order to create the best quality contract without dragging out the process.Project management: Innovation is almost always exciting at the beginning, but it is usually a long process, sometimes longer than anticipated. Individuals working to incorporate legal-tech solutions need to be able to keep up the momentum of the innovation project for the entire duration of the plan. Highlight the value that the innovation will bring to the company and make sure people know what they are meant to be doing at each step of the journey.Business acumen: Business knowledge is not always necessary when incorporating CLM solutions, but it is helpful when focusing on a value-driven mindset. By knowing what a business does and how it operates, you can better understand which values to prioritize throughout the integration process.Tech knowledge: Surprisingly, Mat considers tech knowledge to be the least essential of the 4 traits he mentioned. While it is helpful to know how the technology works in order to figure out the best ways to gain value from it, you can easily learn a lot about technology on the job or even by simply attending webinars. After all, Mat himself didn’t have much tech knowledge when he started either. Searching for SolutionsSo after you’ve evaluated your processes and hired the right people, how do you go about wading through the immense pool of CLM solutions available on the market right now? We asked Mat to walk us through the early steps of locating the perfect CLM tool for your organization. Laughing, he first explained how not to start your search: selecting a tool simply because one of the partners in the firm heard good things about it or knows someone who works for the software company. This could result in choosing a software that is completely unsuited to the needs of your organization, which would be a waste of money, time, and resources.You first need to understand what you want your CLM tool to be able to do for you. Begin by making a clear list of your must-haves and what you want the software to help you accomplish. There are tons of CLM tools out there, and each one has to differentiate itself from others by offering various features, all of which can be helpful in their own ways. But, this also makes it easy to be drawn in simply by the features that would be nice to have while losing sight of the ones that are your organization’s priority. Mat recommends being realistic about your list and starting small. You cannot expect the software to fix every single problem in the legal department right away, so focusing on smaller goals at first allows you to choose a software that suits your immediate needs and that may adapt with you down the line.Encouraging High User AdoptionAnd, once you have all your moving parts in place, the final question that many are left asking is how you get your employees to actually use the new software. Mat explained that support from various locations within the company throughout the implementation process is key. Leaders of the organization, whether they be partners or stakeholders, need to be the ambassadors of change, while a leader of the innovation group itself remains available to answer questions and make sure no one feels left behind. Having a handful of employees who catch onto the software quickly and can act as living proof that the new technology works may encourage others as well. Not to mention, it also helps to showcase success stories early on in the process in order to keep people feeling positive and motivated for the change.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Mat Jakubowski, he is available on LinkedIn to discuss all things legal-tech.

In this week’s installment of Contract Heroes, we sat down with the mastermind behind the creation of Counselwell, Avi Weiss. Avi ​​is currently an in-house lawyer at Coinsquare, a cryptocurrency company based in Canada, but he also manages Counselwell simultaneously. His passion for in-house counsel and the drive to provide resources for his peers in this versatile and demanding profession have led him to take on both jobs, often working nights and weekends to achieve his goals.Throughout the episode, we had the opportunity to learn more about Counselwell and its early days while also gathering some of Avi’s essential tips for anyone looking to find a job working as in-house counsel. Though a bit different from our typical subject matter, Avi’s perspective provides a great look at the world of in-house counsel, what it’s like, and how to get your foot in the door. Creating CounselwellSo, what is Counselwell all about? Avi explained that he created Counselwell with the intention for it to become a resource and a home for in-house lawyers, which it most certainly has. Counselwell offers resources like online courses, a Job Board, a vendor directory, and a Slack community to lawyers all around the country, helping them to grow professionally in their careers and reach new heights.The idea for Counselwell originally came to Avi when he made the switch to in-house counsel himself for the first time. He started out his legal career working at a large law firm in Toronto. Bigger law firms like this one, he explained, have lots of resources available for nearly any subject, as there are people working there from practically every area of law who can give you advice. When you make the jump to in-house counsel, however, you become the only resource for that company when it comes to all sorts of legal subject matter. Whether the questions are in your area of expertise or not, you are still expected to know or be able to figure out an answer. Despite searching around, Avi was unable to find any resources to help him when he first started working in-house. So, he decided to make his own resource: Counselwell.One of the features of Counselwell that we wanted to highlight in particular are the online courses being offered, such as legal project management and contract management. Avi explained that working as an in-house lawyer himself, he was able to think about the types of tasks that lawyers have to do most often outside of the usual substantive law tasks. Dealing with contracts and managing legal projects were two of the most frequent tasks he noticed, hence why they were made into online courses at Counselwell. The legal project management course teaches things like staffing, balancing costs, and time management in order to help lawyers create a structure for handling various legal projects. The contract management course is designed to help lawyers assess their contracts and processes before adopting any form of legal-tech, like contract lifecycle management (CLM) software.Tips for Prospective In-House LawyersCounselwell also features a unique Job Board that is specifically designed to help those seeking in-house positions find the perfect job for them. Avi noticed that in-house counsel positions can have an infinite number of titles, which makes searching for and finding job listings difficult. The Job Board eliminates all the clutter of different titles by listing only jobs for in-house counsel. Starting back in mid-2021, the Job Board has grown to include about 60 listings, with more and more being added each month.One of the main points we asked Avi to touch on was providing some tips or suggestions for anyone interested in an in-house position, whether they’re at the start of their career or simply looking to switch paths for something new. He explained that the first step in the process should be to narrow down your search by thinking about key aspects of your dream job: what type of industry or company you want to work for (a government agency, a startup, a non-profit, a big company, etc.), what type of legal department you want to be a part of (small agile teams or larger ones), and what type of work you want to do. The type of work that you want to do is especially important, and Avi warned against picking a job based on what others might think of your title. Instead, focus on what tasks you’ll be doing at that job and what the actual experience of working there will be like in order to determine whether or not it will be a good fit for you.We’ve condensed Avi’s checklist for finding your perfect job down below:Create a spreadsheet of all the key aspects of your dream job mentioned above.Create a list of companies that match all your criteria.Reach out to people on LinkedIn who work in those companies and track the conversations on your spreadsheet.Use the conversations to narrow down your choices more and more until you find a job that centers around your ideals.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!

Throughout our conversations on Contract Heroes, we have often focused mainly on contract processes, how to go about bettering them before implementing tech solutions like contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools, but one key aspect of the contracting realm that we have yet to fully cover is people. After all, the employees working throughout the different departments of a company are the ones who make the contracting process possible, so we decided to center our attention on understanding the importance of people and building cohesion across the entirety of the business.Cohesion Across DepartmentsWe kicked off our discussion by posing our usual opening question to Kim: “Why do you think the contracting processes of every organization need attention?” She explained that processes make up the foundation of the business. They provide an outline of how people should be doing their jobs and what roles they need to play both within their own business units and as a part of the larger company. The best way to facilitate a deep understanding of this foundation is to find a sense of commonality across all the different business units. By creating consistency among processes in each unit, you can make sure employees are always aware of their roles and are able to adapt even when switching to or collaborating with another unit.For organizations that do not yet have that consistency between units, there are two ways to go about creating it: roll out the new strategy to each unit one at a time or try to incorporate the entire organization in one large move. Choosing between these two possibilities depends on your company’s risk level. It is often much riskier to try to implement strategies in one “big bang” motion. If the strategy is ineffective, then carrying it out across all the units was a waste of time and resources. Kim advised instead to focus on individual business units first. Test the strategy on a smaller scale and make sure it works, then roll it out in broader terms so you can minimize any disruption. Depending on the size and scale of the company, you can either incorporate the new strategy unit by unit or move from location to location.Finding Your StrategyBuilding from Kim’s discussion of incorporating a company-wide strategy, we next asked her to explain how to begin developing that unique strategy. Understanding your contract processes and the way you interact with customers and suppliers is key. Essentially, finding your strategy will act somewhat as a maturity model as well. Mature contracting organizations have their supplier strategies in place, have well-defined processes, and have talented people who understand how contracting truly works. Once a company reaches that point of maturity, then they can begin utilizing strategic contracting.Strategic contracting is based on three main types of contracts: performance-based, relationship-based, and vested outsourcing. Each one will be used differently, so it is important to understand your relationship with each customer or supplier in order to choose the correct contract moving forward. Kim outlined these three types of contracts as follows:Performance-based contracts: Typically used for critical or strategic suppliers. Focused on how you are going to perform to meet the end state of that contract instead of just quality and delivery. How are we going to support the customer after we’ve delivered the product?Relationship-based contracts: Typically used for strategic suppliers. Focused on how you will work together to achieve a certain endstate. Establish terms based on the relationship and how you will ultimately satisfy the customer’s needs. Approach from a trade-off perspective. Keep in mind who will be doing what in the relationship and how you will act in order to achieve the end deliverable.Vested outsourcing: The most collaborative model for strategic suppliers. Focused on building out the relationship together. Understand and agree on the risk profile that both companies will engage in and develop the actual contract jointly. Since vested outsourcing sounds like the best solution for most cases, we asked Kim to give us an example of when that type of approach might not work. She explained that forming contracts using the vested outsourcing strategy requires a great deal of trust and for both sides to understand each other’s risks. If the relationship between the two companies is at all contentious, then this strategy most likely will not be a good choice.Picking the Right PeopleAs we mentioned, we wanted to hear more about contracting from the perspective of the people involved in it rather than just the processes themselves and the tech used to automate them. We asked Kim to help us understand the best way to go about finding and selecting the right people to fit into each aspect of the contracting process and help the company really function at its highest potential. She stated that not only is it important to create a culture within the organization that breeds the correct type of people who want to be involved with that culture, but it is also a necessity to try to incorporate employees early in their careers. Contracts are, of course, inherently based in the law to some extent, as they always have to account for risks and what to do when something goes wrong. However, it is extremely important to make sure contracts do not cater only to the legal side of the relationship, but also to the business side. After all, the goal of contracts is to enable business. Kim explained that people who are hired into contracting positions must be able to understand both sides of the contract as well as how to create and develop meaningful business relationships with customers and suppliers. Apprenticeship programs in college allow young employees to become exposed to different types of contracts in various industries and help prepare them to build these comprehensive contracts that are risk-balanced and use appropriate language to support the legal and sales perspectives equally.To wrap up the show, we asked Kim to give us some tips that people who are just starting their search for a CLM tool can use while wading through the countless options available on the market. From her perspective, it is important to keep in mind that technology is the enabler people use to make their jobs easier and more efficient. You should aim to find a holistic solution that uniquely fits your business strategy and creates a flow across all departments while also allowing room for long-term growth.For more exclusive chats with expert guests in the contract lifecycle management sphere along with valuable legal-tech advice, check out past installments of Contract Heroes and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! If you have any questions for our guest, Kim Miller, she is available via email at [email protected].

Tom is a contract management veteran and a legend in the industry with tons of knowledge to impart about the early steps of implementing contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools. Over the years Tom has helped his clients understand the people, process, and technology that makes up the framework of contracting, especially from the sell side of the equation. During this episode we discussed:How to leverage contracts as a strategic tool that can empower your organization, maximize revenue, and control the way revenue leakage is managedWhy the combination of people, process, and technology is a unique at each organization and how to solve this puzzle to meet your businesses needsWhat “phase zero” is and why it’s so important when starting your journey to find the perfect CLM toolWant to learn more about Tom and the things we discussed in this episode? Connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmfuchs/

Just as a typical doctor would do when diagnosing their patient, the Procurement Doctor evaluates his client’s contract process in order to locate the pain areas before suggesting recommendations on how to go about fixing those areas.During our interview we discussed:Karthik’s experiences in working with the procurement side of contracts vs. the sales side.Why implementing a contract playbook can help your team cut costs, bring in more revenue, and reduce the overall contract processing time.Why managing data vs filing and forgetting is so important when it comes to contract.

Alex started practicing law as a litigator before eventually making the transition into the legal-tech space where’s he’s worked in a variety of roles, most recently as the head of community development at Ironclad where he is responsible for facilitating community engagement. —————————– In this episode we cover: How being a lawyer helped Alex have success selling legal-tech Why working for a law firm isn’t the right fit for all who those who graduated law school How social media helped Alex land his dream job Why communities can and should play a role in which CLM tool your team purchases —————————– Learn more about Alex by connecting with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-su/

Husein Panju has been practicing law for 10 years, spending the first 5 years of his career providing advice and litigation to the three levels of the Canadian government before taking on a dual role with a top public affairs consulting firm in which he handled commercial drafting and risk management. —————————– In this episode we cover: - The problems with legalese and why lawyers still use them - How simplifying the language in your contracts can make them more user-friendly - What tools and services are available to help simplify language and write more clearly —————————– Follow Husein on Twitter (@lawyeredpodcast) and check out his podcast here: http://lawyeredpodcast.com/The Ins and Outs of Legalese

On this episode of Contract Heroes, we had the opportunity to sit down with Sally Guyer, Global CEO of World Commerce & Contract and Paul Branch, CTO. WorldCC provides a home and a common body of knowledge for those working in the rapidly advancing world of contract management. WorldCC showcases an extremely diverse community, with over 70,000 members spanning from 180 different countries. In this episode we spoke with Sally and Paul about: Why simplifying contract language is becoming more popular What issues you can run into when using complex contracting language Understand where your organizations contracting processes are lagging How to find a CLM solution that best fits your teams needs

As Vice President of Contract Management, Rod handles contracts from various types of clients, especially in the pharmaceutical field. Recently, MedImpact has been focused on helping clients procure vaccines and carry out the testing of these vaccines in pharmacy settings. —————————– What’s covered in this episode: How contract lifecycle management can be critical when dealing with all the elements included in the healthcare industry’s intricate contracting process Why does AI mean when it comes to the CLM space and how can it speed up different facets of the contracting process How software, particularly CLM tools can help manage your remote workforce —————————– Connect with Rod on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roderick-wade-5b83989/

Craig is currently a partner at Deloitte Legal based in the UK and has done work all around the globe, helping companies find the best ways to improve their contract processes. He is a lawyer by training and practiced law in New York City for ten years before becoming the head lawyer for Capgemini, where he really started to make his mark in the CLM space by assisting with the creation of legal and commercial shared services. —————————– What’s covered in this episode: Why technology itself can’t solve all of an organizations contracting problems How to get the most out of the tools your company has access to and understanding when it’s time to reevaluate your tech-stack How to prove out the ROI of your chosen CLM tool —————————– Connect with Craig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigjconte/

Jason got his start in legal technology in the mid to late 1990s and practically by accident. While practicing bankruptcy law, he became aware of the potential for automation buried within many rule-driven legal processes. After joining a startup, he involved himself more and more with the automation of legal processes, specifically contract management. With nearly two decades of experience dealing with contracts of all shapes and sizes Jason is the perfect person to learn from when it comes to managing your contracts. ----------------------------- What’s covered in this episode: Problems companies face when beginning to automate their contracting processes How to understand what metrics and issues to focus on when searching for technologies to help How to create synergy between legal and sales to drive faster contract completion ----------------------------- Connect with Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsmithesq/

As most legal-tech experts will tell you, building out your companies contracting process is an ongoing project. You can’t necessarily expect to hit the ground running right off the bat. We recently sat down with Max Eubank, deputy general counsel at Workiva, to discuss how his processes have evolved in the 11 years Max has been with the org. What’s covered in this episode: How the size of a company can effect contract management The importance of efficiency and what data to track in order to better monitor your contracts Advice for those just starting their contracting journey Connect with Max on LinkedIn

Eric has years of experience in the legal-tech space. His current company Agiloft, offers an adaptable enterprise software that specializes in commerce and contract lifecycle management (CLM). What’s covered in this episode: -How the legal ops boom has effective organizations. -How proper contracting processes help different departments align their goals. -The first steps to take when implementing a CLM tool. -What are the tangible and non tangible ROI’s of a CLM too.

The Path Less Taken: In-House Counsel - Senne Mennes We recently sat down with Senne Mennes, co-founder at ClauseBase, and discussed the challenges many students face after graduating from law school. For decades the only real path coming out of college was to work for a firm. However recently other roles have started to become much more popular.  Senne also had some great suggestions for pieces of software/websites law students and young lawyers can leverage early in their careers to work smarter, not harder. Senne’s journey to the tech space is a great story and one we recommend others check out. Whether you’ve been in the legal space for years or are fresh out of school it’s never too early or late to think about a career path that differs from the norm.ClauseBase provides revolutionary and reliable contract drafting software and tools to law firms, lawyers, and legal departments around the world. The software allows lawyers and law departments to build their own unique intelligent clause library and manage their clauses and templates centrally while outsourcing contract creation to professional and commercial teams.Challenges and Suggestions for People Starting their Career in LawSenne worked as a lawyer for 2 years. This is why he still considers himself a junior lawyer. Senne thinks that junior lawyers are not fully prepared and ready for what their work will look like in the near future. He also feels that there is a pervasive feeling among lawyers that they are often left to their own devices because of a lack of investment in technologies and processes that support young lawyers. He opines that a lot of work still needs to be done in knowledge management and knowledge deployment.  Software or Websites Law Students and Young Lawyers can Use Before Working at a Law FirmSenne believes that one of the most important software is MS Word. He thinks that a lot of lawyers simply assume that they know this software inside out just because they have used it for their college assignments, thesis, and papers. However, this is not true.The reality is that many lawyers are not well trained and familiar with working on MS Word. For example, they don’t know how styling and cross-referencing work in the software. He thinks that lawyers can offer more value to their firms with a thorough grounding in specific technologies, such as word processing software, contract management tool, and document management tool.Next Step: How to Choose a ToolYou have to understand the problem you are trying to solve and then look for a tool suitable for that purpose. People should refrain from choosing or selecting the trendiest technology and focus more on the problem they are trying to solve.For example, if you are a litigation lawyer, you will be confronted with different issues, and problems and these issues would be different from, say, those faced by a transactional lawyer.Some essential tools that should be considered are document automation tools, decision tree builders, and contract review tools. Also, note that many tools on the market offer a free trial for students and young lawyers.Your Path from Legal to Legal-Tech From a young age, Senne wanted to become a lawyer. He feels that a lot of his time was spent on understanding MS Word, and that was not offering any value. And once you face those types of issues, they start to affect you and make you feel guilty. He worked together with his co-founder, Martin Truyens, as Martin was an external consultant for the law firm Senne was working for.They worked closely for more than a year. And Senne discussed some of his concerns with Martin, and Martin agreed with Senne on these issues. In fact, that was one of the reasons Martin started developing the tool. The tipping point for Senne that made him realize that legal tech was something he wanted to get into was when Martin presented the software to him.When Senne saw what the software could do, he was impressed. After that, he started exploring document automation on his own and saw the fantastic results that these tools could deliver. Those results inspired Senne to pursue a career in legal tech.        Do You Think Coding is Important for Someone Looking to Pursue a Career in Legal Tech?While coding can be very useful for a person looking to pursue a career in legal tech, Senne also recognizes that an average lawyer is quite busy and has limited spare time. He knows that many lawyers are not willing to make a huge commitment to learning coding.However, he believes that basic knowledge of coding and programming alters your brain for the better. This is because it helps you consider the ways in which you need to change certain legal texts as well. And there are some similarities between how a lawyer works and how a developer works, such as what-if thinking and scenario analysis. Despite that, Senne thinks that learning coding is a good investment of your time.Online Language CoursesSenne believes that lawyers and students can get started with some basic or beginner languages, such as Python and JavaScript. These are some of the popular computer languages. However, note that you have to consider what you are trying to achieve. This is because different computer languages may be suited to different things that you would like to achieve.He also thinks that it pays to consider specific tools and software that already exists. It would help if you kept in mind that there are a lot of low-code and no-code tools in the market that you can take advantage of.The benefit of no-code tools is that the learning curve is much lower, which is excellent. However, it is worth noting that these tools have more limitations as well. On the other hand, low-code tools have a steeper learning curve, but they offer more opportunists and choices.  You will be pleased to know that there are other ways to get into legal tech, and coding is not the only one. If you would like to pursue legal tech and are coming from a legal background, it is crucial to find a problem that excites and frustrates you. This is because you will be interested in solving that problem. And then, you have to consider the role that you would like to pursue, such as a role in sales and marketing or business development.   

We recently sat down with Navdeep Gulati, Senior Contract Administrator at ATCO Electric, and discussed his experience with managing contracts and why having the proper processes in place is so important to all organizations regardless of shape or size. During our discussion we also chatted about best practices during the negotiation process, change orders, invoicing, and why using precise language in your contracts is so important.

Tracking KPIs in Contract Management with Amy SennettWe sat down with Amy Sennett, Associate General Counsel at OpenText, and discussed how being an in-house generalist differs from being outside counsel and the biggest challenges she faced after leaving the law firm.We also discussed when a company should look  to hire external counsel and how having a CLM tool helps various teams in an organization come together and be more collaborative. Amy also shared her thoughts on the types of data companies should extract and track after implementing a CLM tool and how electronic signatures are essential in a post-pandemic world.Amy has been with OpenText for a little over eight months. She has been handling the challenges of meeting, growing, and leading her team virtually during the global pandemic. Amy did not want to be just a lawyer for her entire career. She has always wanted to be a part of organizations and teams that are building upon common and collective goals. Amy gradually realized that her practice was becoming increasingly specialized.OpenText is a Canadian organization and world leader in information management. The company helps organizations securely capture, exchange, and govern information on an international scale. OpenText solves various digital business challenges and issues for customers. These customers range from small and medium-sized businesses to some of the biggest and most complex companies in the world.How being an In-House Generalist Differs from being Outside CounselAmy thinks that when you are in-house, you are part of the implementation. You have to work hard to convince and persuade the relevant department or function in your organization to implement your recommended solution.Biggest Challenges after Leaving the Law FirmAs part of her first in-house job, Amy moved to a venture-backed company in Boston. She was the second lawyer at that company. The company had about 120 employees. One of the biggest changes and challenges Amy had to face was realizing that she had to convince her colleagues outside of the legal function to take her advice or adopt what she was recommending.This was different from how things work at a law firm, where professionals, such as partners and associates, agree on the overall strategy and approach. On the other hand, in a company, it seems that the legal department has completely different goals and objectives than, for example, the sales or product team.For instance, the relationship between the legal team and sales team is usually tenuous as their goals are quite different and even conflicting.When does a Company need to Hire External CounselAmy is of the view that your internal legal team has to be an expert in your business, especially your commercial contracts. For example, they should know the products, routes to markets, and sales processes. She believes that commercial matters and commercial contracts should be kept in house as they are relationship-driven.  On the other hand, when there is an issue that is affecting lots of businesses across an industry or even multiple industries and where you don’t really need specialized knowledge of a specific firm or company but you need someone that can do something repeatedly or at scale, this is where hiring outside counsel makes sense and can be effective.One good example is the implementation of the GDPR regulation. This is because your company does not need to gain that specialty or deep knowledge within your company.Does Having a CLM Tool helps Various Teams Come TogetherAmy thinks that even in a small firm, professionals are using tech in some manner, for example, a spreadsheet, to track their output and stay organized. As your company grows and you have more resources at your disposal, you will be able to leverage legal tech and similar tools. These tools are custom-designed for legal teams to reveal the data to drive and improve your legal function.What Types of Data You should Extract and Track after Implementing a CLM ToolAmy believes that you have to know your organization and who is influential in your organization to make that determination. You also have to determine what information could be impactful and meaningful to them and what problems you are trying to solve by implementing a contract management tool and pulling out specific data.  What KPIs and Legal Metrics or Analytics should Organizations Use?Amy thinks that the term legal metrics or KPIs is applicable in limited situations. This can be, for example, when you have a very high number of standardized, non-negotiated, or templatized documents.However, when you are dealing with documents that require legal negotiations, a better approach is tracking legal analytics. For example, all your contracts in the healthcare sector may take more time than you think. This can help uncover important insights you may otherwise miss.Amy thinks that using qualitative trends rather than just quantitative data, such as turnaround time, can be more valuable and insightful for an organization.Electronic SignaturesAmy thinks that electronic signatures are the future of contract management and make a lot of sense, especially in the post-pandemic world. Electronic signatures are essential as they help you execute contracts faster and streamline the process. They are also great for a mobile workforce. This is because contracts can be signed virtually, which is convenient. You can make your transactions quick as well as convenient with the help of electronic signatures and reduce the risk of error associated with paper-based contracts. Two Metrics to Keep an Eye on when Considering a CLM ToolIt is important to understand your organization and business model. For example, note that different metrics can be either valuable or detrimental, depending on the situation and circumstances.You have to know the cadence and rhythm of your business and your contracting lifecycle to know what data you have to extract and highlight out of a tool in order to make it useful. It is important to set up legal tech that makes your legal team look good and be in harmony with the sales team. Most importantly, you should understand your business processes and optimize them as there is little to gain from automating a broken process.   

Defining contract management processes with Tim Parilla We sat down with Tim Parilla, Chief Legal Officer at LinkSquares, and discussed his experience with some of his clients. We discussed what his customers’ main pain points are and issues they are looking to  solve when searching for a contract management solution.  Tim also shared how organizations that don’t have defined contract management processes can become more efficient. He also emphasized the significance of reporting and turnaround time. Tim shared his insights on other KPIs that need to be considered to evaluate the viability of a CLM platform and how you can assess the ROI of a platform. Tim Parilla has extensive and comprehensive experience leading legal operations in both public companies and private companies in various highly regulated markets. Tim oversees LinkSquares’s legal posture and acts as a strategic advisor to the organization’s management as well as corporate counsel customer base. Tim previously spent 7 years as General Counsel for DraftKings. DraftKings is one of the top digital sports entertainment and gaming companies with different products that range across regulated gaming, daily fantasy, and digital media. Tim joined DraftKings in 2014 as the organization’s first in-house attorney.LinkSquares is one of the leading providers of the best AI-powered contract lifecycle management and analysis tool. LinkSquares is different from many other tools in the market because of its reliable and powerful AI insights, ability to centralize everything, and speed to offering tangible and meaningful results.Common Pain PointsTim thinks that as a general counsel, you are constantly looking at whether your team is serving their internal clients in the organization in a way that keeps those clients happy and satisfied.Tim is of the view that anyone who has worked in an in-house capacity recognizes that one of the most important metrics that any business considers is how quickly the business gets its contracts turned around. There is always a desire at the top management level in any organization to minimize turnaround time. And this applies to not just contracts but also everything that a business does.From the perspective of a person reviewing contracts, in Tim’s opinion, it is important to easily and quickly alternate from one project to another. Commercial counsels at most organizations manage and execute various types of agreements, such as major strategic deals that are heavily negotiated.  Tim thinks that a challenging aspect of contract management is that you are handling multiple deals with multiple organizations, and it is hard to stay focused on one project.As a leader of a legal organization, Tim tries to find ways to maximize the amount of time that his attorneys are spending on doing specialized things that only attorneys can do rather than performing trivial or menial tasks.    Lack of Defined Contract Management Processes and Procedures- How Organizations can Become More EfficientMany large organizations don’t have suitable processes in place with regard to contract management. Tim thinks that one of the most crucial things is to know and understand the problem you are trying to solve with a contract management platform or tool before considering a solution. For example, an organization may be trying to reduce the workload on its legal team.You also have to consider the type of business or industry you are in when considering a contract management tool. For example, a company may engage in a lot of M&A activity. If that is the case, a lot of legal work that the company does may be surrounded by due diligence, and developing various types of disclosure schedules.This is why it is essential to understand what is important to your organization and what benefits you will get from a contract management solution. It is not productive to train a software tool as it wastes organizational resources.Reporting is CriticalTim thinks that as a general counsel, reporting is a crucial factor to keep in mind. Being able to report on the activity of your team is vital. As a general counsel, you are like a business unit, and you have to enable other teams and functions, such as the product team, in your organization.    Turnaround Time and other KPIs to Keep an Eye onTim is of the view that it is important to understand what is in your contract. For example, X% of contracts have some automatic renewal language, and they automatically renew Y% of the time in your contract portfolio.On the pre-signature side of things, it is important to understand the evolution of the contract and how versions of contracts move. For instance, it may take, on average, 5 turns to get to signature. You may have to consider how that changes with dollar value and industry vertical. These types of insights are valuable.       According to Tim, software should enable people to do things the way they want to do it. The tool should be built in a way that facilitates and helps lawyers by prioritizing their needs and preferences and should have minimum friction.Software Adoption Challenges- Tim’s RecommendationsWhile Tim’s role is not customer facing, he thinks that integration with tools like Salesforce and DocuSign can help improve adoption rates within organizations as they make the process seamless. This also lowers the time to implementation.   Calculation of Dollar and Time Savings (ROI of a CLM Platform)Tim is of the view that there is time to value and ease of use matters a lot. The longer and more challenging it is to train somebody to use a CLM platform, the more challenging it can be to have broader adoption of a tool. This is one of the main concerns in many organizations.  The frequency of recurring training makes a significant difference.The ease of implementation has a considerable impact on the ROI of a CLM platform. And having a post-contract analysis is also crucial, especially from the perspective of the person who has to justify the spending. It is also important to demonstrate to your top management how the contract management tool can have broader implications for your organization as a whole, such as how the tool can help other functions in your organization.

When you work for a software company that’s a household name making sure your data is secure is a top priority. We recently sat down with Shannon Orr, Assisted General Counsel at Intuit, and discussed how and why legal teams should be protecting what’s most important to their organizations. We also dug into privacy law, why and how Shannon started to focus on this in her career. If you’re working to protect your companies intellectual property this is a great episode to listen in to!

How Streamlining Your Contracting Processes Can Unite Your OrganizationOsama Hussain, General Counsel at the Irdeto Group We recently sat down with Osama Hussain, General Counsel at the Irdeto Group, on The Contract Heroes Podcast. In our discussion we talked about many things, with a focus around: ●  Establishing relationships across the organization.●  Understanding your business and what's driving its revenue.●  Defining expectations with top management.●  Identifying the necessary components of your agreements.●  Using advisors and tools to make everyone's lives easier. Why should Professionals Pay Attention to Contract Management Processes?Companies have the aim to generate value for their shareholders, and they can’t do that without preserving cash flows, protecting assets, and engaging within their markets. And legal departments in most companies play a crucial role in this. Legal departments do this by owning the contract management program for the company. However, in many cases, you get to the contract management phase at the end of the transaction. And usually, you hear about slow contracting processes from in-house teams and uncertainty about who is responsible for certain aspects of the process. Plus, there is a lack of ownership when issues arise. And this is what happens; in the end, when these problems fester, and you don’t address them adequately, oftentimes, companies hastily adopt tools, hoping that these tools will automatically fix all their problems. However, that does not happen, and in fact, it leads to more frustration, and people badmouth tools because these tools did not fix the problem. In many cases, this happens because most organizations treat contracting as an afterthought, which is problematic. This is why it is essential to ask ourselves why a contract management tool is not considered from the outset, as it is fundamental to a company’s operation.     Who is Responsible for Setting up a Corporate Contracting Program?In Osama’s opinion, legal departments should be responsible for setting up a corporate contracting program. This is because, when it comes to contract management, legal professionals are the smartest people in an organization. Also, note that the legal team knows how to run the program. This is because they are trained and experienced in contracting. For example, they have the education and relevant degrees. Also, it is the only department in most organizations that has access to all aspects of the business that are relevant in this case. Have You been Part of the Contracting Process in the Organizations You’ve Worked or Was a Process in Place when You Started?Osama was often put into an environment where he needed to put a process in place. Often it was being thought of as an afterthought, which is concerning. And Osama thinks that it is the wrong way to go about it. This is because it usually leads to two outcomes. One is where negotiations go on for long and became hostile. The second outcome is that companies usually end up agreeing to a transaction that did not capture the risk profile that they wanted to or the benefits they hope to achieve. Where to Start when Developing a Contract Management Program? According to Osama, there are five crucial components in setting up any contracting program. And the first component is establishing relationships across your organization. The second step entails understanding your business, including your products, services, and solutions. In other words, what is driving your company's revenues? The third component involves defining your expectations to top management preemptively, and fourth is to build the necessary components of your agreement. And lastly, you should have your advisors and tools ready to make everyone’s lives simpler. Osama also thinks that it is vital to build strong relationships with a number of individuals within the commercial entity, such as finance, business development, and sales professionals. What about Automating NDAs?Osama thinks that you should automate any agreement that you can. This is especially true for NDAs because you don’t need much negotiation after you have developed a template that is pretty reasonable. Is There a Need for More Collaboration between Sales and Legal Teams?Osama thinks that it is important to build meaningful and established relationships across the business. If you don’t develop these relationships, it is very difficult to set up and benefit from a successful contractual program.  How to Define Expectations to Top Management?Osama thinks that, in many cases, limitation of liability is what most people think of when communication with top management. People wonder what they will talk to top management about when setting expectations. However, it is important to keep in mind that risk management does not start with the limitation of liability; instead, it ends there. This is why you have to identify all the things that need to be in your agreements with respect to mitigating risk in a way that limitation of liability is the backstop.  System Features that can Facilitate Negotiations To answer this question, it is crucial to consider your workflows and who is ultimately making the decision on the playbook clauses and their selection. And this will eventually define what you finally implement within the system. And the job of in-house contract program managers is to empower the business. He thinks that if you set up a program that is part and parcel of what is appropriate for your company, it is crucial to understand what the workflow should be and what everyone in your company is comfortable with, and this is why it is important to engage all the stakeholders. When looking from the perspective of transaction closure, it is also important to negotiate with your internal teams.

How the Law Company is Changing The Legal Industry John Croft, President and founder of Elevate We recently sat down with John Croft, the president and founder of Elevate, and discussed his motivation for forming Elevate and some of the biggest pain points in the corporate legal sector. We also discussed how larger organizations could ensure that their legal teams work harmoniously with other departments and the type of services that Elevate offers. John is one of the best and top innovators in the modern legal services industry. He has spent the last 30 years helping many law departments and big law firms enhance and improve not just their efficiency but also their quality and outcomes. John is not a lawyer and always wanted to be a business person, though he didn’t know exactly what it meant. John grew up in Oxford among academic people. John has worked with lawyers his entire career. John ended up at Elevate because from his first job, he was selling products and services to lawyers to help them do their job more efficiently and effectively and achieve better outcomes. One of John’s biggest achievements is that he has maintained or retained the same customer base, selling services to lawyers for 35 years. However, what has changed considerably over the years is the type of products that he is selling to lawyers and how he has been able to help them. At Elevate, professionals like John are trying to crack the lack of diversity in the legal sector, addressing the equitability and inclusion side of things. What are the biggest pain points in the corporate legal sector?What triggered John to launch Elevate was the fact that there were only two ways of doing things in the corporate legal sector. The first one involves having your own or in-house legal team write the contracts and take care of other contract management responsibilities. On the other hand, you pick up the phone and engage the services of a law firm, which is a conventional partnership. John realized that other people were coming up with new ways to do this legal work and getting on top of things, such as contract management. For example, some of them were running legal consulting businesses. Others were running flexible lawyer businesses, legal tech businesses, and legal outsourcing businesses. So, a lot of people were coming up with new ways of tackling the same problem. So, John decided to form a company that would offer all of these diverse services to lawyers under one roof. However, before the existence of Elevate, no company was offering all these services to lawyers. So, John’s plan was to develop a solution that entailed offering three services, which are consulting, managed services, and legal technology. For the first service, the company would work as a consultant that would come in and help define what the problem is and design a solution. With respect to the second service, Elevate would do all the contract management work for the client. With respect to the third service, Elevate would help provide technological assistance to help with contract creation and storage.  The aim of Elevate is to improve efficiency in the corporate legal sector by helping law firms and law departments become more efficient, for example, by structuring more efficiently.   Tips for segregated or larger organizations to ensure that their legal team is working harmoniously with other departmentsIn recent years general counsels of large and leading corporations have been forced to become more accountable to the CEO. However, in John’s opinion, legal tech is still considered a threat or something new in the new department. And this is different from the way professionals perceive accounting systems, such as SAP, in the finance department. One of the best tips for organizations is that they should not consider legal tech or technological changes as threats. He thinks that humans have a tendency to resist change, which is natural. However, legal tech should be embraced in organizations of all sizes as it can help them considerably. Also, it is worth noting that the next generation of lawyers will be digital natives who will not be threatened by tech changes. This is why embracing change is even more important in the future. Services that don’t necessarily have to be performed by lawyersElevate has set out to tackle the business of law problems rather than the practice of law problems. This is why Elevate will not brand itself as a company that clients can use to represent themselves in court. Rather, the company will help organizations with things like sorting through massive amounts of data to find valuable information that lawyers can work with. The company can also work in the capacity of a project manager to make sure that a project is completed on time and within budget. Another service that does not necessarily have to be performed by lawyers is legal operations. In the past, the concept of legal operations did not exist, and lawyers worked in their own way. These lawyers did things slightly differently as no process was in place to ensure consistency. However, John thinks that things have changed, and now “legal operations” is not just respected but is essential for any organization. John thinks that now you have to run your legal department the same way a CFO runs the finance department in any organization or CMO runs the marketing department. Trends in Legal Tech and Enterprise SoftwareOne of the biggest trends in this space is the digitization of contract management. In the past, contracts were manually written by human beings with a pen. However, by digitizing this process, you can automatically do other things, such as simplify things by creating templates. For example, equipped with the latest technology, it is possible to take thousands of contracts and interrogate them to see if and where there are any common clauses. In terms of products, there is a trend toward enterprise-level systems. There is a growing demand from the legal and procurement departments of many prominent organizations for an enterprise legal management system.

The Current State of Legal TechnologyColin Levy, Director of Marketing and Business Development at WordRake  We recently sat down with Colin Levy to discuss legal technology and tools and their importance for law departments. We also discussed some of the benefits of contract management tools. Colin is currently the Director of Marketing and Business Development at WordRake and has worked heavily with contracts in his past roles where he focused on corporate transactions, which taught him a lot about contract management and how technology can assist in these efforts.  What is Legal Technology?Legal technology, also known as legal tech, is all technology that law firms use to improve and streamline their processes as well as increase their effectiveness and efficiency. Note that some of these technologies help modern law teams better serve their clients by helping the law firm operate and render legal services more efficiently. Why Colin Focused on Legal Technology and Legal InnovationFor Colin, a lot of impetus and passion for his focus came from his experience. Before law school, he worked for a big firm as an IT paralegal creating litigation databases. So, he was using technology before law school. This is why he thought that he would surely learn about these concepts and tools in law school. However, unfortunately, he did not learn anything about these tools in law school. And he found that very disappointing. After graduating from law school, Colin was constantly astounded at how little technology was being used by lawyers. So, he wanted to learn about people who were changing this dynamic. These people were either developing technology for lawyers or teaching lawyers how to use technology. So, he started writing about his experiences talking to those people and interviewing them. And since then, he cannot get enough of it. He has been dedicated to inspiring and informing others about legal technology and legal innovation. Pandemic and Legal TechnologyNote that in many ways, the coronavirus pandemic has forced many lawyers and law firms to adapt to using some basic technologies. We are yet to determine the long-lasting impacts of this pandemic on the industry. Technology can be useful in making your life simpler, and it allows you to be more productive. However, it is worth noting that technology is not a panacea, and it will not solve every problem you may face. It is essential to start with your people and processes. You have to understand how people work in your organization and what their level of comfort with technology is. So, it is crucial to understand what your problems are before considering solutions. Technological Innovations and Software Making an Impact on In-house Legal TeamsIn Colin’s opinion, there are many add-ons and tools that integrate into MS Word or Excel that most lawyers already use. These tools and add-ons help with things like automating documents and editing documents. Also, MS Word has amazing built-in technology that many lawyers are not aware of. These MS Word features can help with formatting and styling documents. Legal OperationsLegal operations are becoming a vital part of any legal department for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons is that you can better optimize your current processes. You can also better integrate those processes into the larger operations of the business. This is important because, for a long time, legal departments have worked in isolation and were not connected with other business functions. In Colin’s opinion, ‘legal operations’ is the bridge between the legal dept and the larger business. We have to make the legal dept more of a business partner and a resource, enabling it to act as a team member instead of just being a go-to problem solver or cost center, which has been the traditional approach in many law firms. Deriving Insights from the Data It is essential for legal departments to make use of data they have on hand, for example, in the contracts and other documents, to show their value. In addition to minimizing risks, legal departments have to play different roles as well. They have to help businesses better see data—for example, how their contracts are operating and hidden risks in their contracts about legal obligations.   What are the Biggest Bottlenecks or Pain Points in Contract Management?There are several bottlenecks. For example, one issue is version control. This is because most of us send documents back and forth, and everyone has a different way of naming them and dating them, which can cause issues down the line. This is one of the areas that effective contract management can address.  As many contract management software products work well with MS Word natively, tracked changes by the user as well as version control is done on your behalf. Another issue is a lack of a central place for storing and maintaining documents. Having a single place for all documents helps sort and search documents with similar traits and features. Unlike traditional contract management systems, storing and maintaining all files in a single centralized, digital repository allows for extensive reporting and optimum compliance. Contract management can also help find documents that have commonly used clauses and provisions. Also, contract management tools can allow you to derive a lot of data from your agreements through reviewing them and reviewing them through algorithms. However, it is vital to understand your goals before choosing a contract management tool for your firm. Factors to Consider when Choosing the Right Contract Management ToolYou should consider the needs and preferences of your organization carefully before choosing a specific contract management tool. Customizable to your Company’s NeedsYour company’s needs and preferences change over time. As your company enters into a higher number of contracts, you may have to change the way the contracts are labeled, organized, or searched based on your new business goals and objectives. When considering a contract management solution for your company, ask the potential provider regarding customizability- during as well as after the implementation phase. Implementation and Ease of UseThere is no doubt that nobody wants a system that is hard to use. Note that the ultimate success of any contract management platform will depend on several things, but mainly on whether your team members are willing to give the tool a try. Convenience, ease of use, and a positive user experience will definitely encourage not just an initial trial but consistent and long-term use of the contract management system as well. When the implementation and onboarding processes are smoother, your teams will experience less disruption and will be able to make a faster transition.

Tips On Becoming A Legal Thought Leader Jay Harrington Social media has become an everyday part of life for the majority of people. We use it to connect to family members, friends, causes we support, and brands that we’re interested in.  Despite all of the personal uses of social media, many working-class individuals are unaware of ways they can use social media for business purposes. For example, expanding one’s professional network and building one’s own personal brand. Jay Harrington suggests this very thing when he consults with growing companies and being that he has 10 years of legal practice as well as operating his own marketing and consulting agency, the suggestion comes from experience.   Why Is Building A Personal Brand Important?Jay explains that social media has evolved to include and embrace professional network building. Lawyers and legal teams that he consults with are becoming aware that if they aren’t visible online, they’re practically invisible. In today’s world, if a business or professional hopes to be visible, they need to be aware that the first place everybody looks is online. Without an online body of work, it’s difficult to appear credible and authoritative in a field.  Following the pandemic, a lot of professionals are hoping for things to return to normal, and it’s unlikely that they ever will. Both culturally and individually, people are no longer looking for the same level of interaction as what was common up until recently. For this reason, as well as many others, social media and the digital landscape is key.   LinkedIn vs Paper ResumesLinkedIn is currently the most widely used social media platform when it comes to professional interactions. The platform showcases a professional individual’s history, talents, causes, and business demeanor in ways that are far superior to paper resumes.  Jay explains that on a paper resume, a business can get a static impression of what kind of experience a person has in the job market.  A LinkedIn profile can provide the same information and more. It allows professionals and employers to dig into a person’s information as well as seeing an example of how they act, how they conduct themselves, their creative outlets, what they’re currently dedicated to, and what they want to work towards. It’s much easier to decide whether a person is a good fit for a position when other professionals get a preview of the whole person in addition to their job experience. Social media from a business standpoint creates a window into the mind of other professionals. If they create content, employers can get a quick preview. If they network, employers can gauge their communication skills. A paper resume cannot satisfy any of those needs.  Personal Brands On LinkedInIllustrating one’s personal brand through social media meets the same criteria that used to be set forth in traditional business conferences. Companies would send an individual to represent the face of the organization and when this person networked with others, they not only displayed the company in a positive light, but became a snapshot of the humans working within. The same goal applies for online personal brands. Every organization needs partnerships, ways to recruit new employees, and reach the public. The personal brands of people within an organization can help reach that goal. Employees of a business can amplify the message that business is trying to spread. In this way, LinkedIn is both a personal and professional platform. Not only does it connect people, but it expands awareness and shares knowledge from the perspectives of people, not faceless companies.   Content Creation On LinkedInA great way to increase awareness for personal branding is to create content that represents the individual as a professional. However, creating content can be challenging when there are so many possible places to start. In order to avoid getting stuck, it’s good to be aware of an objective. Are you looking for a new job? Are you trying to become more visible in an area where you have experience? Are you trying to network with other professionals in your industry? Are you trying to draw in more clients? Knowing your goal and having a narrow focus on what you’re hoping to achieve is a good way to stay on task and limit distracting options. Jay illustrates an example by saying that a lawyer who is hoping to attract more business might think about what his or her target client cares about. Content should be centered around information they would be interested in.  If it’s still difficult to get started creating content, there is always the option to start small.   Starting SmallContent creation can involve something as small as commenting on content that other professionals post. If you’re following a certain niche, read articles and information posted to LinkedIn that concerns those topics. Jump in and engage with your chosen field to get over your fear of content creation. Commenting on posts related to your field not only helps get the first steps of content creation out of the way, but it also helps extend your network. People will read your comments and interact with them, maybe making comments of their own. Getting involved with your niche can help inspire further content creation.   Smart NetworkingContent creation can be a great way to slowly get to know professionals in your field without approaching them out of nowhere. Jay explains that nobody likes being suddenly bombarded by people who want to ask questions or offer services. Instead of attempting a cold-connection, try interacting with that professional’s content first.  People are more friendly and pay more attention to others who engage with content they create and post, so spend a couple of weeks commenting on posts the professional creates. Leave a comment a couple of times a week and your likelihood of success will increase when you reach out to the person later. In some cases, the professional will reach out to you first. Knowing how to gradually build a good rapport with people you’re hoping to speak to is a better way to approach them than a sudden bothersome request. In being able to appropriately meet people you’re interested in getting to know, you’re more likely to open opportunities that you’re hoping to achieve at some point. Jay gives an example stating that some business professionals avoid interacting on LinkedIn because they want to get into traditional marketing activities right away (such as public speaking roles or quotes in publications).  The path to those opportunities is on social media for individuals who know how to approach them. The businesses looking for people to take advantage of those opportunities are online. People who showcase themselves are more likely to get noticed and invited onto the desired platforms than those who bombard businesses with offers or requests.   Getting StartedFor individuals who do not have a lot of visibility on LinkedIn, it may be challenging to know where to start. Jay suggests being aware of where your desired audience spends their time. Where do you want your personal brand to be most visible? Pinpoint your area and start creating content related to current topics that affect your niche. Because content creation is versatile, the type of content you create is up to you. Whether you write articles, create podcasts, or take up some other form of creating content, start small and aim for an upward trajectory.

Tips for Implementing Contract Management SoftwareMagnus Lindberg is the Chief Enabler at Skye Contracts Because many of the available CLM tools on the market are relatively new, it can be challenging for companies to be sure about how to choose and implement a product. Magnus Lindberg is the Chief Enabler at Skye Contracts works where he has been focused on the use of tech to improve processes, legal work, and contract management. He’s experienced in working with mid-sized businesses and large corporations and has several tips and ideas about what type of information orgs need to have together before searching for the perfect CLM solution as well as what the steps are to make sure the implementation is successful after choosing a vendor. If your team is searching for a new Contract Management tool this is a great episode to listen in on!   What Steps Should Businesses Take?Before spending money on new CLM software, there are several things that businesses need to consider. In order to purchase and implement the right software, it’s important to know the ins and outs of business processes. Magnus explains that it’s in a company’s best interest to first be aware of what CLM software does and doesn’t do. It is primarily a tool, not the solution for every issue a business experiences. To be better able to determine which issues the tool can help with, it’s ideal for decision-makers to work in one sector or department of a business. Fully understand the way processes work within that department, as well as how these processes connect to those of other departments. Before making any sort of purchase, it’s good to determine the simplest way processes can be completed. Keeping the steps simple, write down each process to start. For example, take a closer look at contracts and answer deeper questions about them. How many contracts are active at a given time? How complicated are they? Are there many similarities between contracts? Can they be categorized and bundled? In some cases, after simplifying business processes, companies find that they don’t need contract management software at all (though this is uncommon in larger companies). Remember that contract management software is not a fix-all for businesses, and to make the best use of the tool, it may be necessary to simplify many more business processes first.   How To Get Legal OnboardMagnus explains that understanding current contract management procedures are a key element when it comes to deciding on new software. Because legal teams are often reluctant to seek out new tools to make contract management easier, it may be a good idea to involve other departments in the proposing process. Different teams within an organization can not only make importing existing contracts into a new database easier, but can also provide insights as to why a new tool may be helpful. For example, members of the IT department, who understand data, can create a decent argument in favor of tool implementation. These individuals can help guide the legal team toward implementing new software into contract management processes. Next, it’s important to be well aware of which team takes care of which processes. Are teams expecting the right things from each other? By knowing exactly who handles what process, it becomes easier to discover where significant lag has resulted.   How To Make DecisionsOnce the need for contract management software has been agreed upon by the involved teams, the next step of the process involves searching for the right tool. Some businesses begin their search by looking at demos offered by companies offering contract management solutions. Magnus explains that looking at a demo is not always effective. They’re a decent introduction to a company, but they do not provide enough information to create a fair impression of the tool itself. Instead, it’s better to research a little deeper. Rather than relying on demos, compare different software offerings. Study the features that each program presents. Take a look at proposed workflows and configurations and then try applying them to the current needs of the organization. From there, have the software company explain the engine behind the program. Have them explain how it works in a practical sense. Does the product need an additional implementation product? How is the software maintained? How many of the company’s issues can be solved or improved upon by using this specific tool? Often, businesses decide that they need new legal technology, but they’re not sure where to start when it comes to navigating through all of the choices available. Every business is different, so every case of needing something new is different as well. One way to make the decision process easier is to take apart the different processes that the business conducts. Define everything in simple steps. Make a list of who is involved in each process, who approves new things, how contracts are signed. How do signed, active contracts connect to other departments within the same company? Looking at each process the company is involved in can make it easy to see where issues arise, which solutions are needed, and how they have to work. When the issues are clear, it’s important to determine what sort of labor power is available for implementation. If a new tool is purchased, what sort of resources does the company have available to implement it? How would the tool be maintained? Which team would adopt which duty when it comes to upkeep? Time and resources are two of the most important things to consider when planning to purchase a new tool. A new CLM tool does not fix every issue immediately, and when planning to purchase software, it’s important to be aware of the timeline. A good software company will explain how long implementation is predicted to take, and what end results can be expected.   After Signature IssuesOne of the best arguments in favor of utilizing a CLM tool relates to the way contracts are often ignored after signatures are obtained. Because so little focus is placed on contracts following their signature, businesses miss out on renewal dates as well as auto-renews. Being unaware of the date passing can lead to both loss of funds and loss of clients. When trying to convince legal teams to adopt CLM tools, it might be useful to present reports from financial teams that explain just how much money is commonly lost due to ignoring important contract dates. This way, it will be easier to explain why these tools are needed.   Challenges After PurchaseCompanies need to plan ahead for the implementation of a new CLM tool. Signing up to use the software is one thing, but being able to have the entire business utilize the software is another. It’s important to have everyone on board when it comes to learning how to use a new tool. If there is no one available to train people to use the tool, and very few people end up using it, it won’t be in use for very long. Even the best software will not matter if nobody in the company knows how to use it. When choosing an appropriate CLM software program, Magnus offers a few final tips. Do not choose the first product you see without researching other options.Ensure that you have dedicated personnel to take care of implementation.Look at your company’s internal processes (decide whether only document generation tools are needed, or if an end-to-end system is required). Think about what you already have, what you could use, and how you plan to incorporate features.

Building A Business Case For Contract Management Softwarewith Lisa Lang, General Counsel at a public regional university in Kentucky Business operations have changed a lot in the past year, and as such, many companies are becoming aware of the benefits that automation and contract management offer. Though the pandemic has generally been a negative experience for everyone who has been impacted by it, a couple of opportunities have arisen in light of the difficulties. Lisa Lang is the General Counsel at a public regional university in Kentucky who has been in her position for three years. She wears many hats in her position and as such involves supporting all staff. Due to recent events, Lisa has been able to make much-needed changes in the way her office handles contracts. The Issues with Manual SystemsLisa explains that in larger universities, there is an office that handles procurement and contracts, but in her small office, she is responsible for every contract that exists in the system. Before the pandemic, all of the processes in her office were manual. This means that when it came to negotiations, she would have to print a contract, stamp it to mark the status, sign it, date it, scan it, then send it to the next person that needed to sign. Though a new system was not implemented until after the pandemic, Lisa was aware of the need for change when she first worked in her position. Contracts were at one time stored in binders and organized alphabetically, which was acceptable for a paper system despite its time-consuming nature. Lisa highlighted the issue, as she was aware of the existence of electronic systems. Because the manual system was a constant issue, Lisa did what she could to bring awareness to it. For example, during yearly external audits, lease information flowed to Lisa for review, but due to the inefficiency of the system, she did not always have easy access to every department’s leases. For that reason, she had to dedicate time to chasing down lease information and trying to determine its accuracy. Expressing A NeedUpon the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lisa’s CFO wanted spreadsheets designed that included every contract the university kept, as well as information regarding who was responsible for it. In situations like these, Lisa would explain how long this task was going to take with a manual system, then mention the time it would take using an automated system. For example, “All of our contracts are in binders, so this task may take me two weeks to complete. If we could get a CLM, AI could take care of this task in an hour.” Lisa took time to research the capabilities of CLM systems so that when she was asked to perform a task, she could compare manual efficiency with the predicted efficiency of a CLM system. This helped prepare her for expressing the need for a new system. The ChallengesLisa explains that even though the Purchasing Director and CFO were aware of the need and wanted to assist, the university had competing priorities. Finding the money to afford a system would be a challenge. However, research allowed her to locate a product the university could start with. The system was offered by a small, yet growing company. Because of the size of this company, Lisa thought the system would be a good fit as both entities could grow together. One of her main concerns during this process was whether this new system would be able to integrate with the university’s existing software. DocuSign, for example, was an important element of the university’s financial aid department. While the new system integrated with DocuSign, it took some trial and error learning to configure the integration to where it met the university’s needs. On top of the DocuSign concerns, the new system operated somewhat separately from the Banner system that every department kept data on. In a perfect world, the systems would integrate, but Lisa remains optimistic. The Current StateLisa explains that utilizing the CLM system is a process. It does not improve everything overnight, and there will still be challenges when it comes to configuring the product to her university’s needs. Training staff to use the system will also take time and effort. Fortunately, the vendor has been helpful in this sense. They have been able to help Lisa get the contracts placed into the system, which saved her quite a bit of time and frustration. Despite the fact that a CLM system takes time to learn, configure, and setup, it's clear that they've made the right choice by moving away from manual methods. Future PlansAs time passes, Lisa hopes to include budgeting into the new system. This way, she will be able to take contracts from a repository and assign them to different units within the university. On top of assigning contracts, she will be able to better anticipate money flows and make more detailed purchasing plans. She hopes to overcome the issue of poor vendor organization with the new system. By having a database of vendors, it will be much simpler to locate and use a vendor rather than seeking out a brand new one. She recalls that at one point, the university had three vendors providing the same service but for different units. Had there been a database, one vendor would have been used at a considerable cost reduction. In addition to saving money in that sense, the new system is likely to help prevent the university from losing money to auto-renewals for products that the university may not even use.