In this episode of the Contract Heroes Podcast, we are delighted to speak with Courtney Irelan. Courtney is a corporate attorney and possesses extensive expertise in various contract types, primarily specializing in commercial transactions and procurement. Prior to her legal career, she climbed the ranks in sales and marketing and eventually assumed the role of overseeing business operations for multiple retail stores. Courtney harbors a strong enthusiasm for contracts.
During our conversation, we talk about the Contracts Con event and the importance of practical contract management education in law schools. Courtney emphasizes the need to define the scope of services and terms clearly, as well as to avoid vagueness and ambiguity in contracts. She also stresses the importance of using plain language instead of legalese, which can be difficult for non-lawyers to understand. We also touch on tips for successful contract management implementation and highlight the benefits of having standardized templates in a CLM system, which can empower sales and procurement teams to turn around contracts quickly and efficiently.
Listen to this episode to learn more about the importance of practical contract management education and the benefits of streamlining contracts for all parties involved.
WHAT WE DISCUSS:
- [00:19] - Who is Courtney Irelan?
- [00:43] - The Contracts Con event
- [04:52] - The importance of practical contract management education in law schools
- [08:26] - Overview of Courtney’s article for Contract Nerds
- [11:13] - Tips for crafting streamlined contracts
- [13:50] - The importance of using plain language in contracts
- [17:19] - Courtney’s process of approaching companies for CLM services
- [21:18] - Common contract types needing improvement
- [24:14] - The importance of clear and specific language in contracts, and the use of examples to contextualize technical language
- [25:50] - The benefits of using standardized contract templates in a contract lifecycle management system
- [29:06] - The impact of user-friendly templates on user adoption and efficiency of CLM tools
- [32:15] - Tips for implementing a contract management system
NOTABLE QUOTES:
- [00:13:19] “I've seen a lot of contracts that are super heavy with legalese and coming from sales myself. I remember before being an attorney and reading contracts that I was dealing with and not having a clue what was being said.” - Courtney
- [00:15:21] - “What you need to have is that there is the commercial side of the business that understands the contracts, because most of the time they're the ones doing the negotiation process and the legal team does not need to be involved in every deal otherwise they will just become overwhelmed.” - Pepe
- [00:17:20] - “My experience has been that having a contract lifecycle management software of some kind is a desired tool by every department, and I have never run across a scenario where anybody within a business says, "Oh, we don't want that.” Typically, it is a matter of prioritization and cost and a disconnect between knowing why it's so important to have a CLM.” - Courtney
- [00:32:24] - “If you don't have sufficient buy-in, some sales people may look at CLM's like, Oh, great, now I've got more work to do on my end. They may not realize initially just how much power it gives them. So I think that really emphasizing to sales teams, executive teams and business leaders that this empowers your team. You're not having to wait on legal anymore. You're not even having to wait on procurement a lot of times anymore. CLM gives so much power to the sales and business unit leaders.” -Courtney
USEFUL RESOURCES & LINKS:
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