Ask most authorized or enterprise leaders what’s buried inside their contracts, and the solutions are normally obscure. Somebody in authorized is aware of. It is dependent upon the deal. We’ve got templates. It’s underneath management. However the actuality is, few corporations really perceive what’s of their signed agreements throughout the board. That lack of readability comes at a price.
Contracts aren’t simply authorized paperwork. They’re enterprise alerts. They mirror what you’re prepared to commerce, how a lot threat you’re snug with, and what sort of relationships you wish to construct with prospects, distributors, and companions. They’re not nearly enforcement. They’re about alignment. And most authorized groups are lacking the chance to make use of that data to make extra knowledgeable selections.
In a latest episode of “Notes to My (Authorized) Self,” Flo Nicolas, a authorized tech strategist and founding father of Get Tech Good, supplied a perspective many authorized leaders want to listen to. Flo constructed her profession negotiating and managing licensing agreements in one of many nation’s largest telecommunications corporations. She wasn’t sitting in a authorized silo. She was working cross-functionally, alongside engineers, distributors, and enterprise items, and utilizing contracts as operational blueprints. “Whenever you’re reviewing and negotiating license agreements throughout departments, you see firsthand how a lot is dependent upon readability,” she defined. That readability, or lack of it, impacts supply, accountability, and outcomes throughout all the firm.
And but, in most organizations, contracts are created in isolation and managed as one-offs. Authorized negotiates the phrases. Enterprise groups execute the deal. After that, the contract will get buried in a shared drive or a CLM, hardly ever touched once more until one thing goes unsuitable. What will get misplaced in that handoff is the information, the patterns, the tendencies, and the inconsistencies that may very well be used to enhance not simply authorized efficiency however enterprise outcomes.
Flo identified that authorized operations is likely one of the few features able to bridging that divide. “Authorized ops is uniquely positioned as a conduit throughout departments,” she mentioned. “In the event that they don’t carry these items to mild, who will?” The reality is, you don’t want generative AI or a full CLM rollout to begin studying out of your contracts. You want a mindset shift. You have to deal with contracts as knowledge as a result of they’re.
This implies understanding which phrases you negotiate most, which positions you constantly fall again on, and the place language varies throughout geographies or departments. It means taking a look at the place threat reveals up repeatedly and the place standardization would possibly release sources for extra strategic work. It means aligning your templates not simply with authorized preferences however with how the enterprise truly operates. Contracts, in spite of everything, are commitments. And damaged commitments are costly.
Flo additionally addressed one thing each in-house lawyer ought to hear. “You’ll be able to’t discuss AI to a authorized crew that’s already burning out.” The identical goes for contract transformation. In case your crew is caught in redlines and reactive evaluate, the answer isn’t one other piece of software program. It has higher visibility. Authorized leaders needs to be asking what their contracts truly say, the place issues are getting caught, and the way a lot of that may be solved with readability relatively than complexity.
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress. Begin together with your commonest settlement sorts. Deal with the phrases that sluggish you down or trigger confusion. Discuss to your small business counterparts about what’s working and what’s not. And take a web page from Flo’s e book. Step exterior the authorized echo chamber. Have a look at contracts the way in which a enterprise chief would, as instruments for execution, not simply compliance.
Contracts are a number of the strongest knowledge units your organization owns. They govern your income, your bills, your partnerships, and your obligations. For those who’re not extracting perception from that knowledge, you’re flying blind. The groups that win within the subsequent decade will deal with contracts not simply as authorized instruments however as strategic inputs into how the enterprise runs.
Watch the full interview with Flo Nicolas right here.
Olga V. Mack is the CEO of TermScout, an AI-powered contract certification platform that accelerates income and eliminates friction by certifying contracts as truthful, balanced, and market-ready. A serial CEO and authorized tech govt, she beforehand led an organization by way of a profitable acquisition by LexisNexis. Olga can be a Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Heart for Authorized Informatics, and the Generative AI Editor at regulation.MIT. She is a visionary govt reshaping how we regulation—how authorized techniques are constructed, skilled, and trusted. Olga teaches at Berkeley Legislation, lectures extensively, and advises corporations of all sizes, in addition to boards and establishments. An award-winning normal counsel turned builder, she additionally leads early-stage ventures together with Digital Gabby (Higher Parenting Plan), Product Legislation Hub, ESI Move, and Notes to My (Authorized) Self, every rethinking the observe and enterprise of regulation by way of know-how, knowledge, and human-centered design. She has authored The Rise of Product Attorneys, Authorized Operations within the Age of AI and Knowledge, Blockchain Worth, and Get on Board, with Visible IQ for Attorneys (ABA) forthcoming. Olga is a 6x TEDx speaker and has been acknowledged as a Silicon Valley Lady of Affect and an ABA Lady in Authorized Tech. Her work reimagines folks’s relationship with regulation—making it extra accessible, inclusive, data-driven, and aligned with how the world truly works. She can be the host of the Notes to My (Authorized) Self podcast (streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube), and her insights frequently seem in Forbes, Bloomberg Legislation, Newsweek, VentureBeat, ACC Docket, and Above the Legislation. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley. Observe her on LinkedIn and X @olgavmack.
