In-House Contract Lawyers Explore What Tech Can Do for Them
When an event happens, "you need to know what clauses you have in contracts that alter your risk," one expert says. "And you want AI doing that, not an army of interns in your legal department."
February 28, 2020 at 05:39 PM
4 minute read
Corporate counsel John Griffin of Alliance Data Systems Corp. envisions a day soon when smart computer programs can peruse thousands of company contracts and flag when there's a problem created by changing events.
On Friday he was one of 580 tech-curious professionals—many of them in-house counsel—who attended the Conga Connect conference in Orlando, Florida, focusing on contract management. They worked in user groups, networked with other professionals, and listened to keynote speakers like the Daymond John of "Shark Tank," who welcomed "my fellow sharks" who like him, he said, are also disruptive "agents for change."
In the case of in-house counsel, they often are agents who have to deal with change. Griffin said he is one of about 50 in-house lawyers for Columbus, Ohio-based Alliance Data, with about 15 being contract attorneys.
When there is an event that could impact a company's contracts, Griffin said it seems like it would be simple to figure out that impact. "But it's complex," he told Corporate Counsel. "You must legally evaluate each clause in tens of thousands of contracts."
He said he believes "there is going to be increased [use] of machine learning and predictive analytics" to pull clauses out of contracts that are impacted by an event.
"Time is precious" in a legal department, Griffin noted. "The biggest thing is folks trying to be more adept at using technology, and seeing [new] ways we can use it."
Mason White, vice president of product management at Conga, which sponsored the tech conference, agreed. "We are going to see a lot more AI [artificial intelligence] being brought into products like ours," White said. Conga is a Colorado-based technology and services company that focuses on contract life cycle management.
When there is an event such as Brexit or loss of LIBOR or the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation, White explained, in-house counsel need the ability to figure out how the event will impact its contracts.
"For example, when interest rates are no longer [indexed to] LIBOR, you need to know what clauses you have in contracts that alter your risk. And you want AI doing that, not an army of interns in your legal department."
White said in-house counsel will benefit because soon "they'll be able to have machine learning algorithms cruise through those contracts" and explain that a clause adds this specific value, or that particular risk.
The conference drew attendees from numerous industries and across various roles, including legal operations, in-house contract counsel, sales and sales ops.
But it was in-house lawyers like Griffin, or Patrick Anderson and Zack Chalgren of Agiliti Health Inc., who came to learn what smarter systems could do for their legal departments and their companies.
Anderson, who has been with Minneapolis-based Agiliti about a year, explained, "We want to know what we can do better. We don't know what we don't know, but they [conference programs] can tell us what we need to know and what we don't."
Agiliti services, rents and manages medical equipment nationwide. It has a "small and tight" four-lawyer legal department, they said.
Chalgren, who has been with the company for about two and a half years, said, "We are open to new ways of doing things. If there is a faster, easier, better way to automate these agreements, we want to know about that and implement it. We can provide more value to our business by turning out contracts faster."
One new technology not on their radar yet is blockchain. The attorneys all said they have not seen any practical use so far for blockchain technology in their businesses. Conga's White said he also is not seeing any demand for blockchain.
"We keep evaluating blockchain and keep looking at ways that it might be commercially pragmatic for us," he said. "But there seem to be easier and cheaper ways to achieve what it does. Customers are just not coming to us and asking for blockchain."
White said mostly he has watched other companies take on what he called blockchain vanity projects or blockchain tourism—where they take a little trip with the new technology "and then come back to the old way."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllIn Lawsuit, Ex-Google Employee Says Company’s Layoffs Targeted Parents and Others on Leave
6 minute readPre-Internet High Court Ruling Hobbling Efforts to Keep Tech Giants from Using Below-Cost Pricing to Bury Rivals
6 minute readWill Khan Resign? FTC Chair Isn't Saying Whether She'll Stick Around After Giving Up Gavel
$25M Grubhub Settlement Sheds Light on How Other Gig Economy Firms Can Avoid Regulatory Trouble
8 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250