How CLM and Generative AI are Changing the Legal Landscape

Navigating the intricate landscape of cybersecurity challenges and the rapidly evolving realm of regulations is a formidable task for any legal leader. As digital environments advance at an unprecedented pace, these professionals find themselves at the forefront of a race against time – deciphering complex regulatory frameworks and fending off cybersecurity threats.   

In the face of this relentless transformation, understanding the driving concerns and trends in the legal space becomes paramount. Legal leaders grapple with a myriad of pressing issues, from safeguarding sensitive data against breaches to ensuring compliance in a fluid regulatory landscape. 

Amidst these shifting tides, grasping the pivotal trends shaping the legal arena is indispensable. As industries adapt to new norms, legal strategies must also evolve. Our exploration delves deep into these trends, dissecting their implications and providing insight into how legal professionals can proactively respond. 

However, the true essence lies in uncovering those often-overlooked trends that can make or break a legal strategy. These subtle factors, when understood and leveraged, can pave the way for a competitive edge. By identifying and acting upon these nuances, legal leaders can outmaneuver the competition and proactively address challenges.  

Legal leaders in the modern era

In the ever-evolving business landscape, legal leaders face many challenges that demand innovative solutions. In a recent LinkedIn Live, Josh Sangster at Conga and Lisa Bloomberg, Principal Director at Accenture, delved into legal leaders' minds and explored their critical concerns in the modern era. These experts shed light on these issues, offering a wealth of knowledge and insights to help legal professionals navigate this complex terrain with confidence. Let’s dive into their discussion!  

"Doing More with Less" remains a perpetual goal for legal departments. With increasing demands and limited resources, legal teams seek tools and strategies to optimize efficiency. Enter Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools – a game-changer in helping legal teams achieve compliance with minimal effort. 

A pressing concern for legal leaders is navigating the growth of regulations. With the regulatory landscape constantly expanding, organizations must ensure compliance in various areas, including data privacy regulations such as GDPR and China Data Residency requirements. Lisa highlighted that contract data plays a vital role in this regard: "Managing data privacy and protection requirements by extracting relevant clauses and obligations from contracts and mapping them to various business functions." This linking contract data to regulatory compliance streamlines the process and reduces the risk of overlooking critical compliance measures.  

"But what about the sheer volume of contracts?" Josh asked. With organizations dealing with millions of contracts, handling them manually is a challenging task. Lisa emphasized the concept of a "Contract Remediation Factory," where technology transforms PDFs into data, enabling automated analysis and categorization. She elaborated, "You can then triage those contracts using automated reviews and tracking each through the remediation process. For example, you can update privacy or InfoSec provisions across multiple contracts in bulk using a CLM platform with standard and preferred terms." 

The impact of this streamlined contract management extends to the negotiation process. Automation allows contracts within standard deviations to be automated, while paralegals or contract administrators can handle redlining using predetermined clauses. Lisa noted, "Built-in automation and negotiation fallback rulesets offer the human touch for approval, ensuring a smooth workflow from negotiation to digital execution." 

Discussing critical trends in the legal space, Lisa highlighted two essential areas of focus: "The evolving regulatory landscape and compliance challenges, and the impact of technological advancements on legal operations." Notably, she drew attention to the rise of Generative AI and its potential to revolutionize the practice, offering data-driven insights and revealing critical trends that were previously overlooked. 

However, while technological advancements have empowered legal departments, market gaps remain. "Information lifecycle and harnessing data to optimize the way legal works" stand out as areas where improvements can still be made. 

When accelerating revenue growth, Lisa stressed the importance of speed to market without compromising quality and exposing the enterprise to additional contractual risk. A key aspect of mitigating risk in the revenue lifecycle involves driving standardization in legal templates and clause language. Lisa also emphasized leveraging contract clause analytics to understand the level of contractual risk undertaken by the enterprise. 

As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Lisa for her number one tip for those considering adopting new CLM technology. She wisely advised, "Figure out what capabilities you need, then pick the technology. Start with enabling core CLM functionality like contract storage, redlining, and workflow, and then expand capability over time when your organization is ready." By taking a measured approach, organizations can ensure a successful transition to automated CLM platforms without overwhelming their teams. 

In conclusion, the legal landscape is witnessing an exciting transformation by integrating advanced technologies like CLM and Generative AI. As organizations continue to navigate the ever-changing tides of regulatory growth, the strategic adoption of these tools can empower legal teams, streamline compliance efforts, and drive revenue growth while mitigating contractual risks. The journey towards efficient compliance and contract management starts with a data-driven and technologically empowered approach, revolutionizing legal functions in the digital age. 

Mitigating risk and cyber threats with contract intelligence   

Discover the power of Conga CLM software, a comprehensive contract lifecycle management solution. Automate complex contracting processes across geographies and departments while ensuring compliance and reducing cycle times. From removing risky contract language to expediting approval cycles, Conga CLM empowers legal teams to enhance risk management, recoup revenue, and meet critical deadlines. Gain valuable insights from contracts, standardize legal frameworks, and improve negotiating outcomes, all while reducing document processing costs. Conga CLM efficiently manages regulatory changes and achieves contract excellence at scale. 

We've delved into the vital intersection of cybersecurity, regulatory growth, and legal leadership. For further insights, watch the on-demand of our LinkedIn Live featuring Josh Sangster and Lisa Bloomberg, where they discuss the pressing concerns of legal leaders, pivotal trends shaping the legal landscape, and the impact of technology, including the rise of Generative AI. 

About Conga  

Conga crushes complexity in an increasingly complex world. With our Revenue Lifecycle Management solution, we transform each company's unique complexities for order configuration, execution, fulfillment, and contract renewal processes with a unified data model that adapts to ever-changing business requirements and aligns the understanding and efforts of every team.  

Our approach is grounded in the Conga Way, a framework of entrepreneurial spirit and achieving together to champion our 11,000+ customers. We're committed to our customers and removing complexity in an increasingly complex world. Our solutions quickly adapt to changing business models so you can normalize your revenue management processes.  

Conga has global operations across North America, Europe, and Asia.