Ask
most
legal
or
business
leaders
what’s
buried
inside
their
contracts,
and
the
answers
are
usually
vague.
Someone
in
legal
knows.
It
depends
on
the
deal.
We
have
templates.
It’s
under
control.
But
the
reality
is,
few
companies
truly
understand
what’s
in
their
signed
agreements
across
the
board.
That
lack
of
clarity
comes
at
a
cost.
Contracts
aren’t
just
legal
paperwork.
They’re
business
signals.
They
reflect
what
you’re
willing
to
trade,
how
much
risk
you’re
comfortable
with,
and
what
kind
of
relationships
you
want
to
build
with
customers,
vendors,
and
partners.
They’re
not
just
about
enforcement.
They’re
about
alignment.
And
most
legal
teams
are
missing
the
opportunity
to
use
that
information
to
make
more
informed
decisions.
In
a
recent
episode
of
“Notes
to
My
(Legal)
Self,”
Flo
Nicolas,
a
legal
tech
strategist
and
founder
of
Get
Tech
Smart,
offered
a
perspective
many
legal
leaders
need
to
hear.
Flo
built
her
career
negotiating
and
managing
licensing
agreements
in
one
of
the
country’s
largest
telecommunications
companies.
She
wasn’t
sitting
in
a
legal
silo.
She
was
working
cross-functionally,
alongside
engineers,
vendors,
and
business
units,
and
using
contracts
as
operational
blueprints.
“When
you’re
reviewing
and
negotiating
license
agreements
across
departments,
you
see
firsthand
how
much
depends
on
clarity,”
she
explained.
That
clarity,
or
lack
of
it,
impacts
delivery,
accountability,
and
outcomes
across
the
entire
company.
And
yet,
in
most
organizations,
contracts
are
created
in
isolation
and
managed
as
one-offs.
Legal
negotiates
the
terms.
Business
teams
execute
the
deal.
After
that,
the
contract
gets
buried
in
a
shared
drive
or
a
CLM,
rarely
touched
again
unless
something
goes
wrong.
What
gets
lost
in
that
handoff
is
the
data,
the
patterns,
the
trends,
and
the
inconsistencies
that
could
be
used
to
improve
not
just
legal
performance
but
business
outcomes.
Flo
pointed
out
that
legal
operations
is
one
of
the
few
functions
capable
of
bridging
that
divide.
“Legal
ops
is
uniquely
positioned
as
a
conduit
across
departments,”
she
said.
“If
they
don’t
bring
this
stuff
to
light,
who
will?”
The
truth
is,
you
don’t
need
generative
AI
or
a
full
CLM
rollout
to
start
learning
from
your
contracts.
You
need
a
mindset
shift.
You
need
to
treat
contracts
as
data
because
they
are.
This
means
understanding
which
terms
you
negotiate
most,
which
positions
you
consistently
fall
back
on,
and
where
language
varies
across
geographies
or
departments.
It
means
looking
at
where
risk
shows
up
repeatedly
and
where
standardization
might
free
up
resources
for
more
strategic
work.
It
means
aligning
your
templates
not
just
with
legal
preferences
but
with
how
the
business
actually
operates.
Contracts,
after
all,
are
commitments.
And
broken
commitments
are
expensive.
Flo
also
addressed
something
every
in-house
lawyer
should
hear.
“You
can’t
talk
about
AI
to
a
legal
team
that’s
already
burning
out.”
The
same
goes
for
contract
transformation.
If
your
team
is
stuck
in
redlines
and
reactive
review,
the
solution
isn’t
another
piece
of
software.
It
has
better
visibility.
Legal
leaders
should
be
asking
what
their
contracts
actually
say,
where
things
are
getting
stuck,
and
how
much
of
that
can
be
solved
with
clarity
rather
than
complexity.
This
isn’t
about
perfection.
It’s
about
progress.
Start
with
your
most
common
agreement
types.
Focus
on
the
terms
that
slow
you
down
or
cause
confusion.
Talk
to
your
business
counterparts
about
what’s
working
and
what’s
not.
And
take
a
page
from
Flo’s
book.
Step
outside
the
legal
echo
chamber.
Look
at
contracts
the
way
a
business
leader
would,
as
tools
for
execution,
not
just
compliance.
Contracts
are
some
of
the
most
powerful
data
sets
your
company
owns.
They
govern
your
revenue,
your
expenses,
your
partnerships,
and
your
obligations.
If
you’re
not
extracting
insight
from
that
data,
you’re
flying
blind.
The
teams
that
win
in
the
next
decade
will
treat
contracts
not
just
as
legal
tools
but
as
strategic
inputs
into
how
the
business
runs.
Watch
the
full
interview
with
Flo
Nicolas
here.
Olga
V.
Mack is
the
CEO
of TermScout,
an
AI-powered
contract
certification
platform
that
accelerates
revenue
and
eliminates
friction
by
certifying
contracts
as
fair,
balanced,
and
market-ready.
A
serial
CEO
and
legal
tech
executive,
she
previously
led
a
company
through
a
successful
acquisition
by
LexisNexis.
Olga
is
also
a Fellow
at
CodeX,
The
Stanford
Center
for
Legal
Informatics,
and
the
Generative
AI
Editor
at
law.MIT.
She
is
a
visionary
executive
reshaping
how
we
law—how
legal
systems
are
built,
experienced,
and
trusted.
Olga teaches
at
Berkeley
Law,
lectures
widely,
and
advises
companies
of
all
sizes,
as
well
as
boards
and
institutions.
An
award-winning
general
counsel
turned
builder,
she
also
leads
early-stage
ventures
including Virtual
Gabby
(Better
Parenting
Plan), Product
Law
Hub, ESI
Flow,
and Notes
to
My
(Legal)
Self,
each
rethinking
the
practice
and
business
of
law
through
technology,
data,
and
human-centered
design.
She
has
authored The
Rise
of
Product
Lawyers, Legal
Operations
in
the
Age
of
AI
and
Data, Blockchain
Value,
and Get
on
Board,
with Visual
IQ
for
Lawyers (ABA)
forthcoming.
Olga
is
a
6x
TEDx
speaker
and
has
been
recognized
as
a
Silicon
Valley
Woman
of
Influence
and
an
ABA
Woman
in
Legal
Tech.
Her
work
reimagines
people’s
relationship
with
law—making
it
more
accessible,
inclusive,
data-driven,
and
aligned
with
how
the
world
actually
works.
She
is
also
the
host
of
the
Notes
to
My
(Legal)
Self
podcast
(streaming
on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts,
and YouTube),
and
her
insights
regularly
appear
in
Forbes,
Bloomberg
Law,
Newsweek,
VentureBeat,
ACC
Docket,
and
Above
the
Law.
She
earned
her
B.A.
and
J.D.
from
UC
Berkeley.
Follow
her
on LinkedIn
and
X
@olgavmack.