Latest news with #LegalTeams
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump's Air Force One deal with Qatar not final, despite U.S. claims
Despite claims by the Defense Department to the contrary, legal teams representing the U.S. and Qatari governments have not finalized an agreement for transferring the luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner that President Donald Trump wants for Air Force One amid outstanding requests by Qatar for Washington to clarify the transaction's terms, said officials familiar with the matter.
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Evolution Of In-House Counsel In An AI-Driven World
Shashank Bijapur is the CEO and co-founder of SpotDraft, an AI-driven Contract Lifecycle Management Platform. getty There's something oddly humbling about spending hours reviewing a contract. I once spent six hours debating whether to use "shall" or "will." It was 3 a.m., my coffee was cold, and I thought, "This cannot be the pinnacle of legal work." At the same time, technology was transforming entire industries. I watched Elon Musk talk about autonomous vehicles—not as a possibility, but as an inevitability. It raised an obvious question: "If AI could navigate highways, detect risks in real time and make split-second decisions, why couldn't it handle legal workflows with the same intelligence?" Reclaiming Legal's Strategic Seat No lawyer dreams of becoming a human spell-checker. Yet, much of the job has become just that—measured by workload, not value. In fact, about 40% to 60% of their time is spent drafting legal documents and reviewing contracts. It wasn't the lawyers who were the problem, but the system—one overloaded with low-value, repetitive tasks that barely required legal expertise. This realization led me to find ways to help legal teams get back their time, influence and rightful place in shaping business culture. Because legal shouldn't always be catching up. It should be the one setting the pace. Changing Legal's Role I've worked with several legal teams to automate their workflows and bring efficiency to their contract lifecycles. I find that most organizations are still in the early stages of using technology to optimize contracting. They've taken the first step—adopting tools that improve efficiency—but they haven't yet transformed how legal operates within the business. Put simply: Technology is making legal teams faster, but not necessarily more influential. Data exists, but it isn't used to shape strategy. Risks are flagged, but they aren't predicted in advance. Contracts get reviewed, but they don't get structured to drive better business outcomes. That's the gap. If legal teams are going to move beyond being the last stop in a business process, they need more than just speed; they need foresight. How AI Can Give Legal A Seat At The Table I don't see AI as a tool for automation. I see it as a tool for augmentation. There's a difference. While automation speeds things up, augmentation makes them smarter. Having worked with close to 400 in-house legal teams, here are three ways I think AI can help you change the narrative: 1. Remove Bottlenecks One of the fastest ways to unlock business velocity is by automating low-risk, high-volume legal tasks. Two kinds of contracts often stand out: non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and standard vendor agreements. These types of agreements are repetitive, template-driven and rarely require nuanced negotiation. Automating their review and approval can remove a significant chunk of the daily backlog without introducing risk. But if you want AI to actually empower your team rather than merely clearing your inbox, you need structure; you need a risk matrix that spells out when a contract can go through on its own, and when it needs a human set of eyes. You need clear escalation rules for edge cases. And most of all, you need systems that keep legal in the loop through audit trails, dashboards and the ability to intervene whenever needed. The goal is to make sure your team is steering the ship, even when you're not the ones rowing every oar. That's when the real shift begins—when legal teams stop being the people who clean up risks, and start being the people who predict, shape and guide decisions before they happen. 2. Provide Data That Legal Teams Can Use There's a paradox in legal. Legal teams are often among the leanest and most overworked in a company, yet when budgets are on the line, they're still the hardest to defend. Because legal work is invisible until something goes wrong. That's where the right use of AI makes a difference. It generates data that legal can use to help executives see and understand the true value of the function. When I help legal teams track metrics, I start simple. Focus on things like hours saved through automation, time-to-contract close before versus after intervention and the volume of routine matters handled without escalation Executives also want to see how legal is accelerating sales, mitigating risks early and helping the business move faster and smarter. For example, demonstrate how speeding up NDA approvals reduced the average sales cycle and the impact on revenue recognition. Or how early legal input on supplier contracts reduced dispute escalations by a certain percentage. When legal can frame its work in those terms, the conversation at the leadership table changes completely. 3. Create Standardized Playbooks To Streamline Future Negotiations Every extra day spent negotiating a contract is a day where revenue is stuck in limbo. I've seen deals stall for weeks—not because the terms were complex, but because both sides were caught in the cycle of redlines, approvals and legal back-and-forth. AI doesn't solve this by speeding up clicks. It solves it by surfacing patterns, such as where negotiations tend to get stuck, which fallback positions work, which terms lead to the most pushback. One of the most impactful things I've seen legal teams do is use AI to analyze historical contracts. When you can see that the majority of vendor master services agreements (MSAs) end up with the same indemnity clause, or that certain redlines never actually get negotiated, you can start building playbooks that pre-empt the friction. As a result, sales and procurement teams can move faster with legal-approved templates. Legal can then focus on high-risk exceptions instead of spending the same amount of time on every single deal. Giving Legal Teams The Chance To Rewrite AI The ones who see AI as an opportunity will work smarter, with more impact and more influence. Less time buried in approvals, more time shaping strategy. Less reacting, more anticipating. A decade ago, I sat there, exhausted, wondering if things could be different. Today, I know they can. And if a lawyer running on cold coffee at 3 a.m. can see that future, so can you. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
