Most in-house legal teams talk about contracts in terms of risk. They focus on fallbacks, approval workflows, and redlines. Rarely do they talk about contracts in terms of data. And that’s where the real opportunity is hiding.
In a recent episode of Notes to My (Legal) Self, legal tech leader Colin Levy offered a perspective that should make every in-house lawyer stop and think. “Contracts really are how businesses run,” he said. “They’re the lifeblood of a business — and they contain a lot of valuable data that often goes unnoticed or not tracked or not acted upon.”
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It’s the kind of comment that sounds obvious once you hear it. Of course, contracts are full of valuable information. But if we’re honest, most legal departments still treat them like static documents — PDFs to be negotiated, signed, and filed away. We don’t treat them like data sources. We should.
Watch the full conversation here:
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Contract data isn’t limited to party names and payment dates. It includes risk positions, clause trends, cycle times, fallback usage, and term variations. It’s business-critical information hiding in plain sight. However, we often treat this data as a legal admin — something to “handle” rather than something to learn from.
Whether or not you use a CLM system, contract data remains one of the most underused assets legal teams have.
That gap leads to familiar problems. Sales wonders why contract approvals stall. Finance can’t reconcile revenue forecasts with reality. Procurement teams miss auto-renewals that cost the company. Legal scrambles to explain, but without clear, structured data, we fall back on narrative. That’s when legal becomes the black box everyone struggles to navigate.
You Can’t Leverage What You Can’t See
Colin emphasized that legal tech isn’t just about automation. It’s about visibility. “To be a valued member of the team, you have to understand how the business operates,” he said. “Legal tech helps you become more data-driven and visible.”
Visibility is the difference between legal being seen as a blocker and being trusted as a strategic partner. When legal shows up with metrics, real insights about what slows deals, where risk accumulates, and how terms evolve, everything changes. You’re no longer asking for trust. You’re earning it.
The First Step Isn’t AI. It’s Attention.
Legal departments are eager to explore generative AI, but Colin offered a caution: it’s not the tool that matters; it’s the data you feed it. Before exploring automation, start by understanding what’s already in your contracts.
Colin suggested focusing on foundational insights: renewal dates, payment schedules, performance obligations, negotiation trends, and clause alternatives. “The more you can track those data points and use them to drive your decision making,” he said, “the more leadership will value what you’re doing — and understand why you’re doing it.”
Contracts Should Speak The Language Of Business
Colin made a strong case that legal teams need to speak in data to be heard by the business. It’s no longer enough to say “trust us.” Business leaders want to see impact — measured, quantified, and aligned to objectives. “Data can really help you get there,” he said. “And in a way that leadership and other functions of the business can understand and act upon.”
When legal speaks in contract data, it becomes a force multiplier. It supports better decisions. It builds trust. It clarifies how legal supports both revenue and risk mitigation. And it transforms contracts from paperwork into strategic intelligence.
Final Thought: Don’t Wait To Get Loud
Colin’s message is clear. Legal doesn’t need to boil the ocean or launch a transformation project to make progress. It just needs to pay closer attention to the signals already embedded in contracts.
Start by asking one good question. Track one useful data point. Turn one insight into a conversation with a business partner. That’s how change starts.
Legal teams have always been great at protecting the business. But now we have the tools, and the data, to illuminate 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.