For
all
our
talk
about
modernizing
legal
operations,
we
still
treat
some
of
the
most
essential
systems
in
our
profession
as
afterthoughts.
Take
depositions.
Most
in-house
lawyers
will
tell
you
they
are
critical
in
litigation.
Yet
we
accept
inefficiency,
latency,
and
eye-watering
cost
as
part
of
the
process.
Karl
Seelbach
wants
to
change
that.
As
a
personal
injury
defense
litigator
and
the
co-founder
of
Skribe.ai,
he
is
pushing
the
legal
industry
to
rethink
deposition
tech
not
as
an
optional
upgrade
but
as
foundational
infrastructure.
What
he
is
building
may
be
aimed
at
courtroom
practice,
but
the
implications
reach
far
beyond
litigation.
For
in-house
teams
who
want
to
improve
trust,
clarity,
and
speed
across
their
legal
stack,
this
conversation
is
your
wake-up
call.
Watch
the
full
interview
here:
Depositions
Are
The
Litigation
Equivalent
Of
Contract
Records
When
you
step
back,
the
parallels
are
obvious.
A
deposition
is
a
structured
record
of
legal
fact.
So
is
a
contract.
Both
are
artifacts
of
human
intent
that
must
be
captured
cleanly,
authenticated
accurately,
and
preserved
in
ways
that
hold
up
under
scrutiny.
The
challenge,
as
Karl
notes,
is
that
traditional
deposition
workflows
do
not
deliver
on
that
promise.
“It
was
slow.
It
was
expensive.
The
equipment
felt
archaic,”
he
told
me.
He
started
Skribe
after
spending
years
taking
depositions
across
Texas,
relying
on
costly
and
inconsistent
processes
that
delayed
case
momentum
and
drained
client
resources.
This
is
not
just
a
courtroom
problem.
The
same
breakdown
happens
when
contracts
sit
in
static
Word
docs
with
no
structure,
version
history,
or
clarity.
As
legal
leaders,
we
cannot
afford
to
keep
treating
these
systems
as
back
office
hygiene.
They
are
records
of
trust.
They
must
be
treated
as
infrastructure.
The
Infrastructure
Test:
Cost,
Scale,
Redundancy,
And
Speed
Karl
makes
a
compelling
case
that
deposition
tech
should
be
held
to
the
same
standard
we
apply
to
other
enterprise
infrastructure.
“Judges
are
telling
us
they
don’t
even
have
a
good
way
to
get
a
quick
and
easy
transcript
of
audio.
It
slows
down
justice,”
he
explained.
In
one
federal
court,
Skribe
is
piloting
a
system
that
creates
instant
transcripts
from
audio
recordings
then
uses
GenAI
to
help
draft
proposed
orders.
In
other
words,
this
is
not
about
replacing
stenographers.
It
is
about
building
scalable
systems
that
reduce
human
bottlenecks,
improve
access,
and
increase
transparency.
The
shortage
of
court
reporters
is
real.
The
bigger
risk
is
a
shortage
of
usable
legal
data.
We
should
apply
the
same
logic
to
contract
systems.
If
your
agreements
are
not
searchable,
certifiable,
and
comparable,
then
you
are
not
managing
infrastructure.
You
are
managing
files.
Education
Is
The
Bottleneck,
Not
The
Tech
Adoption,
Karl
says,
has
been
less
about
resistance
and
more
about
unfamiliarity.
“A
lot
of
attorneys
just
assume
you
need
a
court
reporter.
They
don’t
realize
non-stenographic
depositions
have
been
allowed
under
federal
rules
since
1993.”
Education,
not
reluctance,
is
the
main
barrier.
This
is
another
area
where
contract
tech
and
deposition
tech
mirror
each
other.
Many
in-house
teams
still
believe
contracts
must
be
reviewed
manually,
line
by
line,
by
a
lawyer
with
a
red
pen.
Few
realize
you
can
now
certify
a
third-party
paper
for
fairness
or
flag
clause
risks
automatically
using
structured
data.
Once
you
show
your
team
what
is
possible,
priorities
change.
“We’re
not
trying
to
cut
corners,”
Karl
said.
“We’re
building
a
reliable,
redundant,
software-powered
way
to
capture
the
record.
That’s
what
the
future
of
legal
testimony
should
look
like.”
From
Records
To
Systems:
A
Playbook
For
In-House
Legal
Teams
If
you
are
in-house
and
responsible
for
litigation,
vendor
oversight,
or
even
contract
management,
there
are
actionable
lessons
here.
First,
treat
deposition
systems
and
contract
workflows
as
parallel
infrastructure
layers.
Both
require
reliable
data
capture,
structured
outputs,
and
measurable
performance.
Second,
push
your
vendors
to
modernize.
Ask
outside
counsel
if
they
use
tech-enabled
deposition
tools.
Ask
contract
reviewers
if
they
can
certify
risk
to
a
standard.
Stop
tolerating
analog
tools
that
delay
outcomes.
Third,
pilot
smart
systems
that
accelerate
business
decisions.
Whether
it
is
instant
transcript
capture
or
real-time
contract
scoring,
the
ROI
is
not
just
in
speed.
it
is
in
trust,
visibility,
and
alignment.
As
Karl
put
it,
“We
need
to
speed
up
the
wheels
of
justice.
That
starts
by
making
the
data
usable.”
Legal
teams
have
spent
too
long
optimizing
the
wrong
things.
We
fix
formatting.
We
polish
memos.
But
we
ignore
the
core
infrastructure
that
governs
how
legal
knowledge
is
captured,
stored,
and
acted
on.
It
is
time
to
change
that.
Deposition
tech
is
not
support
work.
It
is
infrastructure.
So
are
contracts.
Treat
them
like
it.
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.