If you happen to’re in-house, overwhelmed, and questioning if there’s a wiser method to help the enterprise with out burning out, find time for Tanisha Minev.
In a current episode of Notes to My (Authorized) Self, Tanisha — in-house authorized counsel and co-author of “Authorized Operations within the Age of AI and Information” — presents one of the crucial grounded, actionable views on authorized operations you’ll hear this yr. Her recommendation is rooted in lived expertise, not idea, and it’s particularly well timed for groups navigating quick development, excessive expectations, and rising stress to do extra with much less.
Watch the complete interview right here:
Authorized Ops Isn’t A Product. It’s A Mindset.
Tanisha’s entry into authorized ops wasn’t deliberate. Early in her profession, she saved working into the identical inefficiencies, particularly round routine contracts like NDAs and MSAs. With out ready for brand new headcount or expertise, she began simplifying and standardizing what she might.
At Yoco, authorized requests had been flying in via e-mail, Slack, and hallway conversations. Her resolution? A light-weight consumption system utilizing instruments the enterprise already used. No costly platform. No consultants. Simply readability and intentional course of design.
This theme runs all through her strategy: repair what’s damaged earlier than scaling. Authorized operations isn’t about shopping for tech — it’s about fixing actual issues, sustainably.
Contracts Would possibly Be Slowing You Down, Extra Than You Assume
One in every of Tanisha’s sharpest insights: your contracts could also be the costliest a part of your gross sales cycle — and never due to exterior counsel payments.
She factors to the hidden value of inefficient contract workflows. When groups re-review the identical NDAs or DPAs with out clear fallback positions or templated steering, it results in bottlenecks, resolution fatigue, and gross sales delays. The answer isn’t simply automation — it’s standardization and visibility.
Tanisha warns in opposition to leaping into CLM or workflow automation too early. And not using a stable baseline — knowledge about deal varieties, turnaround occasions, and friction factors — you threat optimizing noise as an alternative of fixing the true points.
You Don’t Want A CLM. You Want Readability.
The drive to “repair” contracts usually leads groups to put money into software program earlier than they’ve outlined the issue. Tanisha advocates for a unique strategy: begin by monitoring what issues most. What sorts of contracts are coming in? What’s slowing down evaluate? What’s negotiable — and what isn’t?
By constructing this inner map, groups can determine the place to standardize, when to escalate, and the best way to help the enterprise with fewer bottlenecks.
Readability Builds Belief
Tanisha doesn’t simply speak about effectivity; she ties it on to belief. When authorized is overwhelmed, it’s laborious to be proactive. However when the group operates with readability — about consumption, about playbooks, about fallback phrases — it builds confidence throughout the enterprise.
This doesn’t require a metamorphosis. Usually, it begins with small modifications: clarifying an NDA playbook, publishing commonplace phrases, or making a contract template self-service. These steps compound over time, permitting authorized to deal with higher-impact work.
Begin Small, Enhance One thing
Tanisha closes the episode with a easy problem: “Choose one factor and make it higher.”
Whether or not it’s consumption, contracts, or collaboration with Gross sales, the trail to a wiser authorized perform isn’t essentially extra tech — it’s extra intention.
Her insights are a beneficial reminder: authorized operations isn’t about instruments. It’s about belief, readability, and steady enchancment.
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 Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Heart for Authorized Informatics, and the Generative AI Editor at legislation.MIT, she is a visionary govt reshaping how we legislation—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 common 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 apply and enterprise of legislation via expertise, knowledge, and human-centered design. She has authored The Rise of Product Attorneys, Authorized Operations within the Age of AI and Information, Blockchain Worth, and Get on Board, with Visible IQ for Attorneys (ABA) forthcoming. Her work reimagines folks’s relationship with legislation—making it extra accessible, inclusive, data-driven, and aligned with how the world really works. Observe her on LinkedIn and X @olgavmack.
