When engaging with legal or business leaders about the contents of their contracts, responses often tend to be ambiguous. Common replies include, “Someone in legal knows,” “It depends on the deal,” or “We have templates; it’s under control.” However, the stark reality is that very few companies fully comprehend the implications of their signed agreements across various departments. This lack of clarity can result in significant financial and operational consequences.
Contracts extend far beyond mere legal documentation; they serve as vital business signals. They encapsulate what your organization is ready to negotiate, the level of risk you’re willing to accept, and the types of relationships you aim to cultivate with customers, vendors, and partners. Contracts are not solely about compliance and enforcement; they fundamentally focus on alignment within the business ecosystem. Unfortunately, many legal teams fail to recognize the potential of this information to enhance their decision-making processes.
In a recent segment of “Notes to My (Legal) Self,” Flo Nicolas, a seasoned legal tech strategist and founder of Get Tech Smart, shared insights that are crucial for many legal leaders. Having established her career in negotiating and managing licensing agreements at one of the nation’s largest telecommunications firms, Flo emphasizes that her role extended beyond the confines of a legal silo. By collaborating with engineers, vendors, and various business units, she utilized contracts as operational blueprints. “When you’re reviewing and negotiating license agreements across departments, you witness firsthand the critical importance of clarity,” she elaborated. Such clarity—or its absence—directly influences delivery, accountability, and overall outcomes throughout the entire organization.
Despite this, most businesses still generate contracts in isolation and manage them as singular occurrences. Typically, legal teams negotiate the terms, while business units execute the agreements. Once finalized, the contract often becomes dormant, buried within a shared drive or a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) system, seldom revisited unless issues arise. This handoff process leads to the loss of valuable data, identifiable patterns, emerging trends, and inconsistencies that could enhance legal performance and overall business outcomes.
Flo highlighted that legal operations represents one of the few functions capable of bridging this divide. “Legal ops is uniquely positioned as a conduit across departments,” she stated. “If they don’t spotlight these issues, who will?” The reality is that organizations do not require generative AI or a comprehensive CLM deployment to begin learning from their contracts; what they need is a fundamental shift in mindset. Contracts must be treated as data, as they inherently are.
Understanding which terms are negotiated most frequently, identifying the fallback positions that are consistently adopted, and recognizing where language diverges across geographical regions or departments is crucial. This involves analyzing where risks consistently manifest and determining areas ripe for standardization, which could free up resources for more strategic initiatives. Ultimately, it means aligning your contract templates not only with legal preferences but also with the actual operational dynamics of the business. Contracts are more than mere documents; they embody commitments, and the repercussions of broken commitments can be costly.
Flo also addressed a critical point that every in-house lawyer should heed. “You can’t introduce AI to a legal team that’s already experiencing burnout.” This principle applies equally to contract transformation efforts. If a legal team is bogged down with redlines and reactive reviews, the answer does not lie in acquiring another software solution. Instead, it necessitates improved visibility. Legal leaders should be probing into what their contracts explicitly state, identifying bottlenecks, and exploring how much of these challenges can be resolved through enhanced clarity rather than added complexity.
This journey is not about achieving perfection; it’s about fostering progress. Begin by examining your most frequently used agreement types, concentrating on the terms that hinder your workflow or generate confusion. Collaborate with your business counterparts to discuss what’s effective and what isn’t. Take inspiration from Flo’s approach and step outside the confines of legal isolation. View contracts through the lens of a business leader—as tools for execution, not merely for compliance.
Contracts constitute some of the most impactful data sets that your organization possesses. They govern critical aspects of your operations, including revenue, expenses, partnerships, and obligations. If you fail to extract insights from this data, you risk navigating your business landscape without direction. The organizations that will excel in the coming decade will recognize that contracts are not merely legal instruments but essential strategic inputs that influence the way their business operates.
Watch the full interview featuring Flo Nicolas here.
Olga V. Mack serves as the CEO of TermScout, an innovative AI-driven contract certification platform designed to enhance revenue streams and reduce friction by certifying contracts as fair, balanced, and market-ready. As a serial CEO and legal tech executive, she has successfully led a company through an acquisition by LexisNexis. Olga is also a Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, and serves as the Generative AI Editor at law.MIT. She is a forward-thinking executive who is reshaping the legal landscape—transforming how legal systems are constructed, experienced, and trusted. Olga teaches at Berkeley Law, delivers lectures globally, and provides consultation to organizations of all sizes, including boards and institutions. An acclaimed general counsel turned innovator, she also spearheads early-stage ventures such as Virtual Gabby (Better Parenting Plan)<em>, </em>Product Law Hub, ESI Flow<em>, and </em><em>Notes to My (Legal) Self</em>, each aimed at rethinking the practice and business of law through the lenses of technology, data, and human-centered design. She is the author of 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 six-time TEDx speaker and has been honored as a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence and an ABA Woman in Legal Tech. Her work reimagines the relationship between individuals and the law, making it more accessible, inclusive, data-driven, and aligned with real-world dynamics. Additionally, she hosts the podcast Notes to My (Legal) Self, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, with her insights frequently featured in Forbes, Bloomberg Law, Newsweek, VentureBeat, ACC Docket, and Above the Law. Olga earned her B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley and invites you to connect with her on LinkedIn and X @olgavmack.
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