Contractually Speaking

Watch on YouTube HERE . In the Season One finale of Contractually Speaking, Matt Patel shares two conversations recorded recently on-location in Chicago during the CLAS and CLOC events, with Gabriel Saunders and Jonathan Perkel . Gabriel explores a challenge every legal technology provider faces: how to prioritize customer requests, feature enhancements and product innovation at scale. He shares h...

Watch on YouTube HERE . In this episode of Contractually Speaking, Matt sits down with Steph Corey and Sumi Trombley from UpLevelOps to discuss how legal operations teams can navigate the fast-moving world of AI, point solutions and enterprise legal technology. With new AI tools emerging constantly, legal teams are under pressure to evaluate sandboxes, run pilots, compare vendors and determine wha...

Watch on YouTube HERE . It’s a Matt-fest on this episode of Contractually Speaking, as Matt Patel is joined by Matt Linder from Harbor to break down what a CLM deployment really means — and why it’s about far more than just implementing technology. Drawing from real-world experience implementing CLM for large global organizations, Matt Linder shares how successful deployments focus first on solvin...

Watch on YouTube: HERE . In this episode of Contractually Speaking, Matt Patel sits down again with Devon Misterman from Epiq to tackle one of the most challenging — and often underestimated — parts of any CLM implementation: data migration. Whether transitioning from a legacy CLM or starting fresh with thousands of contracts stored across systems and PDFs, migration is more than just moving files...

Watch on YouTube HERE . In this episode of Contractually Speaking, Matt sits down with Malbek’s General Counsel, Colin Levy, to break down a foundational — yet rapidly evolving — concept in legal operations: the contract playbook. While playbooks have existed for decades, the rise of AI is fundamentally changing how they are designed, structured, and used. Colin shares how legal teams must rethink...

Watch on YouTube HERE . In this episode of Contractually Speaking, Matt sits down with Ellen Kranz from Lighthouse for a candid conversation recorded live at the true Austin speakeasy Here Nor There . The setting may be hidden — but the topic is all about uncovering what’s hidden inside your contracts. Ellen shares how Lighthouse has matured its vendor-side CLM program by integrating legal, procur...

Watch on YouTube HERE . In this episode of Contractually Speaking, Matt sits down with legal operations leader Deisha Vazquez for a conversation that goes beyond CLM and technology — and straight to the core of performance, mindset, and self-care. With over 25 years in the legal industry, Deisha has rebuilt legal teams through chaos, bankruptcy, private equity transitions, and pandemic disruption....

Watch on YouTube HERE . Today on Contractually Speaking, Matt sits down with Patrick Reymann, Research Director at IDC , to explore how procurement is evolving from a back-office function into a strategic driver of enterprise decision-making —and yes, they get into that recent announcement from Anthropic/Claude that left the legal world buzzing.. Patrick shares insights on the rapid transformation...

Watch on YouTube HERE . This episode of Contractually Speaking features a deep dive discussion between Matt and Devon Misterman from Epiq , an alliance partner that handles CLM implementations. Together, they unpack how legal teams can move beyond simply implementing tools and instead focus on building scalable systems, improving adoption, and aligning stakeholders across the business. Devon share...

Watch on YouTube HERE . In this episode of Contractually Speaking, host Matt Patel sits down with Emmanuel Smith (Qualitas) for a unique conversation that connects two unlikely worlds: NFL and CLM. Emmanuel shares how his career journey took him from professional football to legal technology — and why the mindset of training, coaching, and maintenance applies directly to successful CLM implementat...

In this episode of Contractually Speaking, host Matt Patel explores how people, process, and community are shaping the future of legal operations. Joined by Anne Graue and Colin McCarthy, the conversation focuses on their new global initiative, Our Legal Community (OLC) , and the real-world challenges of building scalable, modern legal teams. Drawing on experience across law firms, the judiciary,...

In this After Dark episode of Contractually Speaking, host Matt Patel chats in person with Tom Stephenson , CEO of Legal Ops AI, for a candid, unscripted conversation about careers, contracts, and the future of legal operations — all while playing a game of pool. Together, they explore what it really means to build a sustainable legal career in an era shaped by AI, automation, and rapidly evolving...

In this episode of Contractually Speaking, host Matt Patel sits down with Ronak Ray — a former Malbek customer turned legal tech founder — for a wide-ranging conversation. Ronak shares his nontraditional path (programming → finance → law), how real in-house pain points inspired the creation of modCounsel , and why the future of legal support for growth companies is about scaling capability — not j...

In our second episode of Contractually Speaking , Matt Patel sits down with Oyango Snell , Executive Director of CLOC , to unpack how legal operations professionals and vendors can maximize value from conferences and industry events. Drawing on CLOC’s decade-long evolution and the growth of its Global Institute, the conversation explores how conferences have shifted from transactional marketplaces...

In the inaugural episode of Contractually Speaking, Matt sits down with Lucy Bassli of InnoLaw Group to unpack the real challenges behind adopting contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems and legal technology. While AI often gets the spotlight, the conversation reveals that the biggest hurdle isn’t technology at all—it’s people. From fear of change to misconceptions about AI replacing everyone,...