Contract Heroes

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!