The Contract Lens Podcast

For Envision 2021, we brought together five contract experts, Steph Corey - Co-founder of UpLevels Ops, Lucy Bassli - Founder and Principal at InnoLaw Group, Colin McCarthy - CEO and Founder of Legal Operators, Jason Smith - Chair, Corporate Counsel Section of the State Bar of Texas, and Teju Deshpande - Principal of Deloitte’s Legal Business Services practice, to tackle the biggest questions in contract management. The debate was intense, flags were thrown, and words did fly! The debate begins with "process": what it is and why its so important for your success. Then, the game gets heated with a "discussion" of the term non-lawyer and the impacts the lawyer vs. non-lawyer debate has. The conversation then shifts to how to continually improve your process with technology and innovation. Finally, the panel discuss the need for community in the contract management space and why change is needed to help include others and expand viewpoints. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

In today’s episode, James Meads, Managing Partner at James Meads Consulting and podcast host, shares the gaps in contract management that procurement faces and how to bridge them. James introduces the unique challenges that procurement encounters when it comes to contracts. From third-party paper to the lack of Procurement involvement in Procurement activities, James describes the four major challenges that Procurement teams face when managing contracts. Focusing on the issue of third-party paper, he explains how procurement is at a loss without a way to confidently review a contract. James then shares how things like a strong CLM solution and AI functionality can help solve these challenges. Wrapping up with his take on the future, he describes how Procurement is evolving (and why companies need to pay more attention to their Procurement teams!). So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today’s episode we discuss how to use technology and data to better achieve organizational goals. The conversation is led by Colin Levy, legal tech influencer and Director of Legal and Evangelist at Malbek, and Taeler Gannuscia, Product Marketing Manager at Malbek. Beginning with one of his LinkedIn posts, Colin explains that technology is a tool for professionals to reach their goals. Tech can unlock data and offer valuable insights, but it all comes down to how people use it within their processes. Colin then explains how legal technology a tool for building collaborative relationships with other business functions and spearheading digital transformation across the organization. Colin finishes up by offering advice on how to be a data-driven technology advocate. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today’s episode, Mark Ross, Principal in Deloitte Tax LLP’s Legal Business Services practice, is joined by Taeler Gannuscia, Product Marketing Manager at Malbek, to explore the role of a CLM in an organization and how it helps business users manage the entire lifespan of a contract to create the most value. Mark begins by discussing why a CLM is necessary in today’s world. He explores how, since contracts go beyond legal and are the lifeblood of a business, technology is an enabler for all stakeholders. He shares how an organization can work to crumble the walls between stakeholders and his top three ingredients for a successful CLM implementation. Then, Mark shifts the conversation to how applying CLM technologies in the right way can help you to manage your contracts post-signature. He ties it all together by looking into his metaphorical crystal ball and sharing where he thinks the CLM industry is headed next. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today’s episode, Linda Tonkes, Author and Managing Director at CM Partners, is joined by Gary Zuder, VP of Sales at Malbek, to discuss the impact of pre- and post-award contract management on organizational agility. Linda shares how contracts are nothing without context before signing and the actions you take after signing. She describes the steps you should take in the pre-award phase to ensure success and then explains why you need to expect change and who to involve so you can adapt quickly. Knowing contracting is a cycle, not a linear process, Linda then wraps up the discussion by sharing how renovating a kitchen is like getting started with contracts. Hint: it’s all about who you are building for! So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today’s episode of the Contract Lens, Anne Moore, Senior Solution Consultant at Malbek, discusses how to transform the way you do contracts for Procurement with Karthik Rama, a contract management expert and transformation leader in the procurement space. Karthik is known as the Procurement Doctor for a reason, as he begins by explaining how contract management is like the nervous system of procurement. He continues the conversation by using his experiences to denote the common problems Procurement faces with contracts, and how technology can work to solve them. Since Procurement is so different from other teams, Karthik describes ways to align Legal and Procurement for success. Finishing the discussion on a strong note, he shares how people, process, data, and technology can be combined to ensure continued success and efficiency.

In this episode of The Contract Lens Podcast, Lee Hoang, Account Executive at Malbek, chats with Basha Rubin, co-founder and CEO of Priori Legal, about leveraging contract overflow support to effectively scale to your legal needs. The conversation kicks off with Basha explaining what contract overflow support is and how it can be a much more cost-effective way to scale. Flexibility is key, so Basha also touches on how legal support can create efficiency for your legal department. She then describes the signs that you may need to consider legal support services and higher a general council. So grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

Kicking off season two, Matt Patel, COO and Co-founder of Malbek, chats with Ed Klaris and Alex Akers of KlarisIP on how important it is to have a CLM that integrates with other business applications. When it comes to how contracts are handled, it can seem like Legal is at odds with other business teams. Alex and Ed discuss how using the right CLM and integrations smooths out friction and can bridge the gap between different parts of the business. The conversation shifts to specific departments and the pain points they face without the right integrations. Rounding out the episode, Alex and Ed discuss how having visibility into obligations and data is critical for business function and why integrating properly can be a game changer for your organization. Teamwork makes the dream work and that is no exception for CLM solutions! So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today’s episode Brad Wires from the Malbek Sales team chats with Pepe Toriello, Founder and CEO of Red de Firmas, about how to make the contract management process more efficient. Beginning with the most common problems, Pepe breaks down the contracting cycle and explains what pitfalls can occur at each step. Using examples from his experience as a legal consultant, he then explains how knowing your process and what you want from it is the important first step in creating efficiency. He highlights CLM features, like strong search functionality and AI as a springboard, as among the best ways to streamline the approval process. There are more than just approvals to make more efficient though, so he also shares which KPIs are important to pay attention to for monitoring efficiency and what insights they can bring about your contract process as a whole. So grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

Red de Firmas on LinkedIn

Today's episode of The Contract Lens Podcast features an insightful conversation between Malbek Director of Sales, Kevin Brening, and Managing Director at Valenta BPO, Richard Nohe, as they discuss how digital transformation is impacting in-house legal departments today. Having recently published a paper called "Digital Contracting in the Context of Digital Transformation", Richard brings a deep understanding of the issues facing legal departments in the age of digital transformation. He acknowledges the tension that inevitably exists since technology is inherently forward focused and legal is backward focused on historical precedent. But despite those tensions, legal no longer has a choice to delay from analog and manual methods, and there is great benefit to be gained in efficiencies and off-loading tedious tasks that pull away from more strategic work. Richard makes the case for why legal should align with the broader goals of the business and why AI should really be called "augmented intelligence", and he concludes with his advice for those organizations embarking on a digital transformation journey. So grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

Richard Nohe on Twitter

Valenta BPO on Twitter