The Contract Lens Podcast

In this episode, we feature our keynote speaker from Envision 2022: Nada Alnajafi. Nada is an award-winning in-house attorney, blogger, and author. She currently serves as Corporate Council at Franklin Templeton and is the founder of Contract Nerds, a legal blog all about contracts for contract professionals around the world. The focus of this episode is on contract redlining etiquette, as she goes through her book and the top three tips for leveraging the power of red lines for faster and smarter contract negotiations. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

Buckle up! We are taking a deep dive into community! For today's episode, Colin Levy- Director of Legal and Evangelist at Malbek- is joined by fellow LinkedIn influencer, lawyer, and entrepreneur Flo Nicolas. Flo begins by exploring what community really means and what you have to do to build an authentic and engaging brand. Focusing on how legal tech extends past just the "lawyers" and "contract managers", the conversation then covers Flo's path into legal tech and how she became interested in social media. They then cover the trials and tribulations of social media and share some tips on how to improve your presence and build a community of your own. So now it's time to relax, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts.

Today's episode is all about growth. Specifically, how our customer Pantheon leveraged Malbek's robust analytics, seamless integrations, and self-configurable solution to achieve stunning results for Legal that helped to grow the business in a meaningful, measurable way. Today's guests are Ronak Ray, GC of Pantheon, and Taeler Gannuscia, Product Marketing Manager at Malbek. Beginning with the challenges Pantheon faced pre-Malbek, Ronak shares how a CLM solution that is ready to scale and grow from the get-go was a defining attribute they needed. The conversation then shifts to how to get buy-in from stakeholders across the business- not just from Legal. Touching on the results of implementing Malbek, Ronak shares how AI functionality, no-code integrations, and contract automation made it easy to scale with the hypergrowth Pantheon is (and continues to) experiencing to this day. So now it's time to relax, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts.

We begin season three of the Contract Lens with Taeler Gannuscia, Product Marketing Manager at Malbek, and Omar Sweiss, Founder and CEO of JusticeBid, as they explore the state of DEI in the legal sphere, what JusticeBid does, and what it takes to build a strong DEI initiative. Omar begins the conversation with how JusticeBid is a little like the Justice League of Legal. Noting that it only takes a little courage to spur change, he dives into how and why he began JusticeBid. Omar then explains what intersectionality is and why JusticeBid has taken it into account to strengthen DEI. And since transparency builds trust, Omar wraps up with how to best build value through relationships when choosing who to work with. So grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today's episode of The Contract Lens Podcast Jaime Slocum, VP of Customer Success at Malbek, is joined by Stephanie Cox-Connolly, Malbek customer and Contracts Manager at Benchmark Education, to get to know the do's and don'ts of implementing a CLM. Beginning with the do's, Stephanie defines the three main pillars to pay attention to when implementing contracts: process, stakeholders, and buy-in. She explains the fine balance between stakeholder input and roll-out efficiency, and how to maintain that balance. Stephanie then shares best practices for before, during, and after implementing a CLM solution. It's all about communication, managing change, and prep! So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today's episode of The Contract Lens Podcast Hemanth Puttaswamy, CEO and Co-founder of Malbek, is joined by David (Ledge) Ledgerwood, Managing Partner at Add1Zero and podcast host, to explore how contracts can be used as a tool for revenue. To kick off the conversation, David explains why companies who don’t manage their contracts appropriately face a lot of friction (and risk) for their revenue ops team. Revenue drives everything, and so do contracts, so he dives deep into how you can speed your deal cycle with a little help from a contract management system. David then explores how AI can smooth your deal cycle and add value to the contract process in a way that benefits Sales, Legal, and Finance teams. Reflecting on his experiences, David shares his top four traits of a perfect CLM solution for revenue ops teams. Hint: collaboration, speed, and integrations all play a part! So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today's episode of The Contract Lens Podcast we have an excerpt from our Legalweek 2022 discussion with Ronak Ray, General Council at Pantheon, and Malbek Customer, as he explores how to use metrics in an actionable and impactful way. Ronak begins by sharing how his organization uses a CLM to align contract management practices to business targets, and what Legal does to support this role. Then, he discusses how to conduct a holistic needs assessment to identify CLM goals. Ronak dives deeper with metrics and KPIs by sharing which ones to track to help define your success. Finally, Ronak shares his experience as a Malbek customer and how having the right CLM solution in place can unite the enterprise and improve business outcomes. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts! 

For Envision 2021, we opened with a bang. We were joined by Anna Lozynski, former GC of L'Oréal, author, and thought leader, to share her tips, tricks, and thoughts on the legal tech world as we know it. She begins her conversation with why legal innovation is so important in today's world. Then, Anna explains what a "chief problem solver" is and how they can inspire others to innovate and grow. She also touches on the dreaded term "non-lawyer" and all the reasons you need to stop using that term. Finally, she wraps up the conversation by sharing what she thinks the future of legal tech will look like. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today's episode of The Contract Lens Podcast Lucy Bassli, Founder and Principal at InnoLaw Group, is joined by Becky Holloway, VP of Marketing at Malbek, to explore the core points from Lucy’s newest book CLM Simplified: Efficient Contracting for Law Departments. Lucy dives into her newest book by explaining a key theme: what it means to have an over-functional Legal team. Citing reasons for mistrust between business and Legal teams, she then goes over ways to better align Legal with business teams and organizational goals. Lucy goes a step further and explains why it’s best to keep Legal out of the contract lifecycle as much as you can except for the negotiation phase. To wrap up, Lucy shares where CLM technologies can have the greatest impact. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!

On today’s episode we are joined by Arjen Van Berkum, Chief strategy Wizard at CATS CM, a Dutch contract management methodology company, to discuss how contract management is key to being part of a business ecosystem. The conversation kicks off with Arjen describing how a contract can be a business asset not a risk if managed properly. He then points out how no company works in a void, and how contract management is a key way to assess and build your business ecosystem. Arjen touches on how a solid methodology can serve as a common language for all stakeholders and can help you navigate people, process, and regulation. So, grab a glass of wine, and let's talk contracts!