{"id":139087,"date":"2025-12-15T17:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T01:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/12\/15\/stop-outsourcing-by-instinct-otto-hanson-on-how-legal-teams-can-turn-contract-review-into-a-strategic-asset\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T17:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T01:54:09","slug":"stop-outsourcing-by-instinct-otto-hanson-on-how-legal-teams-can-turn-contract-review-into-a-strategic-asset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/12\/15\/stop-outsourcing-by-instinct-otto-hanson-on-how-legal-teams-can-turn-contract-review-into-a-strategic-asset\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Outsourcing By Instinct: Otto Hanson On How Legal Teams Can Turn Contract Review Into A Strategic Asset"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your in-house legal team is still picking outside counsel based on legacy relationships, hunches, or internal reputation, you\u2019re not alone. But you might also be holding back your company\u2019s growth. In a recent episode of \u201cNotes to My (Legal) Self,\u201d I sat down with Otto Hanson, co-founder and CEO of TermScout and Screens, to talk about how contract review is evolving and how forward-looking legal teams can stop outsourcing by instinct and start scaling good judgment through strategy, data, and technology.<\/p>\n

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From Law Firm Burnout To Product-Minded Builder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Otto began his career in a familiar place, Biglaw. \u201cI was a corporate attorney at Davis Graham and Stubbs, and I loved helping clients,\u201d he said. \u201cBut so much of the work I did was tedious, menial, and didn\u2019t justify the billable hour. It wasn\u2019t a good use of my time or theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

That realization planted the seed for TermScout, a platform focused on reviewing, benchmarking, and certifying<\/em> contracts. But it didn\u2019t stop there. With the rise of GPT-4 and generative AI, Otto and his team launched a second platform, Screens, which lets legal teams build and share AI-powered contract playbooks. \u201cIt\u2019s about letting lawyers craft AI to think like them,\u201d Otto explained. \u201cThe goal is to turn knowledge into scalable, defensible legal products.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Problem With Instinctual Outsourcing<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most dangerous defaults in legal departments is choosing vendors and reviewing contracts based on familiarity. \u201cThere\u2019s this belief that big firms are always the safest choice,\u201d Otto noted. \u201cBut that\u2019s no longer true for low to medium-risk work. There are better, faster, more specialized options and most legal teams are leaving value on the table by not exploring them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instinctual outsourcing leads to expensive inefficiencies, bloated deal cycles, and contracts that reflect legacy habits instead of business goals. Otto pointed out that many legal teams are told by their CROs or CEOs, \u201cLegal, stop getting in the way of sales. Your job is to support the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

That wake-up call can be uncomfortable. But it\u2019s also an invitation to lead.<\/p>\n

Codify Your Judgment Before You Scale It<\/strong><\/p>\n

When legal leaders move from instinct to intention, everything shifts. Otto shared a simple yet transformative approach his team uses with clients: the risk-complexity matrix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe literally create a matrix: high, medium, low risk on one axis, and high, medium, low complexity on the other,\u201d he explained. \u201cThen we map all the projects from the past year and look at what was spent where. That becomes a blueprint for smarter allocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

This kind of thinking allows in-house teams to match the right task to the right provider, and to define why<\/em> a given firm or solution is being used. That defensibility matters. Especially when legal is being asked to justify spend in language the CFO understands.<\/p>\n

Certify Trust, Not Just Risk<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond better triage, Otto believes legal teams can go further by turning contracts into business assets. That\u2019s where TermScout\u2019s certification layer comes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more companies are waking up and saying: we don\u2019t need to win on every clause,\u201d Otto said. \u201cWe need a contract that closes deals. Certification helps legal prove that the terms are fair, reasonable, and aligned with market expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The platform offers badges like Certified Balanced or Certified Customer-Favorable, backed by public benchmarks and transparent methodology. \u201cIt works,\u201d Otto said. \u201cIt shortens deal cycles, builds trust, and signals professionalism. And it\u2019s easy to implement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AI Trust Gap And Why Playbooks Matter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite all the promise of AI, many lawyers remain cautious. Otto called it a \u201ctrust gap,\u201d and he doesn\u2019t expect it to close overnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI doesn\u2019t have context,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t understand the 20-year relationship with your customer. It doesn\u2019t know what matters to your GC. That\u2019s why coupling AI with human expertise is the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Screens, his second product, lets lawyers build AI playbooks that reflect their firm\u2019s judgment. These playbooks can be used internally, shared across teams, or even offered as products. \u201cIt\u2019s not about replacing lawyers,\u201d Otto emphasized. \u201cIt\u2019s about letting lawyers scale themselves safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

What In-House Legal Should Do Next<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in-house and want to move from reactive to strategic, Otto offered a clear starting point: \u201cJust start playing. Take the free trial. Build one playbook. Certify one contract. You don\u2019t have to overhaul everything. You just have to begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small steps matter. \u201cThe tools are changing,\u201d Otto said. \u201cAnd when the tools change, so should the business model.\u201d<\/p>\n

This shift from instinctual outsourcing to intentional decision-making isn\u2019t theoretical. It\u2019s the future of legal. And it\u2019s one in which clarity, certification, and product thinking will separate the blockers from the business builders.<\/p>\n

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Olga V. Mack<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is the CEO of\u00a0TermScout<\/a>, 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\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and the Generative AI Editor at law.MIT. She is a visionary executive reshaping how we law\u2014how legal systems are built, experienced, and trusted. Olga\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>teaches at Berkeley Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, 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\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Virtual Gabby (Better Parenting Plan)<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Product Law Hub<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>ESI Flow<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Notes to My (Legal) Self<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, each rethinking the practice and business of law through technology, data, and human-centered design. She has authored\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Rise of Product Lawyers<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Legal Operations in the Age of AI and Data<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Blockchain Value<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Get on Board<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, with\u00a0Visual IQ for Lawyers\u00a0(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\u2019s relationship with law\u2014making 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\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Spotify<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Apple Podcasts<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>YouTube<\/em><\/strong><\/a>), 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\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>LinkedIn<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and X @olgavmack.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Stop Outsourcing By Instinct: Otto Hanson On How Legal Teams Can Turn Contract Review Into A Strategic Asset<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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If your in-house legal team is still picking outside counsel based on legacy relationships, hunches, or internal reputation, you\u2019re not alone. But you might also be holding back your company\u2019s growth. In a recent episode of \u201cNotes to My (Legal) Self,\u201d I sat down with Otto Hanson, co-founder and CEO of TermScout and Screens, to talk about how contract review is evolving and how forward-looking legal teams can stop outsourcing by instinct and start scaling good judgment through strategy, data, and technology.<\/p>\n