Director of Legal @ Malbek | Legal Tech Author and Commentator | Fastcase 50 2022 Honoree | Legal Tech Startup Advisor and Investor

I help legal professionals, legal teams, and technology organizations make sense of legal technology so they can work smarter, deliver stronger outcomes, and lead with confidence in a field that is often noisy, fragmented, and misunderstood.

As General Counsel of Malbek and a long-time educator, author, and advocate, I sit at the intersection of law, technology, and learning. My work centers on translation. I take complex, fast-moving technologies and turn them into clear concepts, practical strategies, and informed decisions that legal professionals can actually use. Whether guiding teams through digital transformation or shaping how legal products are built and adopted, my focus is always on clarity over hype.

Teaching is core to how I operate. I regularly speak to diverse audiences, from military organizations to law firms and in-house legal departments, as well as large professional groups, on AI’s impact on legal work and the responsible, effective use of technology. Across these settings, my goal is the same: to help people understand not just what tools do, but how they change legal work, roles, and judgment.

That same educational mission runs through my writing and publishing. I am the author of The Legal Tech Ecosystem, a foundational guide to understanding the industry and its players, a co-author of CLM for Dummies, and the editor of the Handbook of Legal Tech. I also write regularly, serve as a columnist for Today’s General Counsel, and contribute through podcasts, webinars, and industry forums. Each platform is another way to make legal tech more accessible, grounded, and actionable.

Across every role, my aim is to equip people with the knowledge and confidence to engage with innovation thoughtfully and critically. If you are trying to cut through the legal tech noise, educate your team, modernize how your legal function operates, or build tools that truly serve legal professionals, I help move you from uncertainty to understanding and from learning to execution.

Let’s build what comes next.

Colin Levy

Award Winning In-House Counsel | Founder of Contract Nerds 📝 🤓 | Author of Contract Redlining Etiquette | Keynote Speaker

Nada Alnajafi is an Attorney, Founder, Author, Keynote Speaker, Thought Leader, Contracts Expert, Redlining Expert, and Mentor. 

I currently serve as Sr. Corporate Counsel for Franklin Templeton, a Fortune-500 global financial services organization. At Franklin, I am part of the buy-side Contract Review Team where I draft, review and negotiate a high-volume of commercial, technology and data privacy agreements for global clients. As someone who is passionate about legal tech, I also provide legal ops support and advocate for the modernization and automation of our contract review process.  

CONTRACT NERDS 📝 🤓 | #1 Best Blog for In-House Counsel | www.contractnerds.com

On August 31, 2020, I launched the Contract Nerds blog - a modern legal blog all about contracts for contracts professionals around the world! Subscribe to our weekly newsletters with recent blog posts and free events and resources on contracts. Follow us LinkedIn and Instagram. 

CONTRACT REDLINING ETIQUETTE 📕| #1 Best Seller in Contracts Law | Amazon

Contract Redlining Etiquette provides the first and only uniform set of rules about redlining and negotiating contracts. Whether you are new to contracts or have negotiated hundreds of them, this book will help you leverage the power of redlines to drive contract negotiations forward. There's redlining, and then there's smarter redlining.

“In opening this book, you are on the precipice of investing in one of the most vital negotiation tools in your toolbox. There is no other book that can give you these types of tools that are focused specifically on redlining. Without a doubt Nada is a trailblazer - sharing wisdom the world of negotiation is currently missing, and desperately needs.” - Kwame Christian, Managing Director of the American Negotiation Institute

PODCASTS 🎙 :

- Contract Heroes: https://contract-heroes.simplecast.com/episodes/the-rules-of-redlining-nada-alnajafi-ZPqNgphQ
- Negotiate Anything: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/negotiate-anything/the-3-best-practices-for-jcxyCi3Y7ft/
- Notes to My (Legal) Self: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKBrAQwlZaU
- Limitless Lawyer: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/season-2-episode-2-nada-alnjajafi-founder-contract/id1508407045?i=1000496258393

PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS nada@contractnerds.com

Nada Alnajafi

My favorite instruction to add to any AI Prompt for contracting:

“Context is important. Before responding, ask me at least three questions that will help you gather important context about this deal to improve the quality of your response.” 

I love this because it: 

- feels like I’m having a conversation with AI 
-  refines the response through question-answer instead of multiple rounds of revisions 
- builds my confidence in the AI’s response knowing that it’s taking context into account 

Ever used this before? If not, try it out and let me know what you think! 

Would love to hear what your go-to instruction is in the comments ⬇️.

#airedlining #aiprompts #legaltips

Award Winning In-House Counsel + Legal Ops Leader, Franklin Templeton ⚖️ | Founder, Contract Nerds 📝 🤓 | Author, Contract Redlining Etiquette 📕

FREEBIE ALERT 🚨 AI ADDENDUM TEMPLATE 

I’m going to save you thousands of dollars with this one freebie! ⬇️ 👏🏼 

All registrants of our January 22nd webinar on AI Addendums will receive a free attorney-drafted AI Addendum template!!! 

Template Info:

📝 Drafted by Matthew Kohel, Partner at Saul Ewing LLP 

📝 Workshopped by three other attorneys: Laura Belmont, Jessica Nguyen, and Myself

📝 Totals 6 pages 

📝 Serves as a good starting point in negotiations with vendors offering AI features and should be customized according to the specific deal. 

So you tell me, what is the value of all this attorney time and expertise? I’d say, priceless!

Come join our webinar by registering below and we’ll email you this template afterwards. Join live for CLE credit and prizes. 

REGISTER HERE: https://lnkd.in/giuPTeeE

🙏🏻 Huge thanks to Matt and Laura for creating incredible content for this webinar! 

#aiterms #inhousecounsel #contractnerds #freetemplate

Curious how Contract Nerds is doing since the acquisition? 

Great! I've got an update for you in the article below.

I call this series, From the Founder, in which I write quarterly updates about the state of the company post-acquisition to you all. 

Some highlights from our first quarter:
⭐ We are continuing to grow, grow, grow!
⭐ We're making our webinar recordings free instead of charging for them!
⭐ We're forming our first-ever Contract Nerds Community Council this month!

Catch the full update here:
https://lnkd.in/gisQdSDX

#fromthefounder #contractnerds #legalacquisitions #legalindustry

Open article: From the Founder: Second Edition by contractnerds.com

It started with a call to a friend. It ended with an acquisition.

Last year, I was in the middle of discussions with other buyers who were interested in purchasing Contract Nerds. But something wasn't sitting right. There was a part of me that was hesitating, holding back, waiting...

I needed advice, so I called my friend Jessica and asked: "Hypothetically, if I were to sell Contract Nerds to a legal tech company, how do you think it would land with the community?"

Her response: "It depends on WHO the buyer is."

🤔 She left me with a lot to think about. 

The next day, she called me back: "What if Docusign acquired Contract Nerds and I became the new head?"

And it hit me. This is what I was waiting for. The perfect match!

That call opened the door. What came next was months of work—due diligence, negotiations, alignment on vision. But it started with mutual trust, genuine friendship, and a shared passion for community and contracts.

In fact, it started five years ago with one LinkedIn post (mine) and one LinkedIn like (Jessica's). 

In this episode of the In-House podcast with Jessica Nguyen and Hemma R. we share vulnerable parts of the Docusign-Contract Nerds acquisition story and more, including:

🎙️ the power of community
🎙️ the value of personal branding in the legal profession, and
🎙️how leading with generosity can creates opportunities you never imagined.

Listen to the full episode to hear how this all unfolded. ⬇️
https://lnkd.in/gDF_dyqN

#acquisitionanecdotes #inhousepodcast #personalbranding #legalcareers #thepowerofcommunity

Open article: Unlocking Your Legal Career: Personal Branding, Community, and The Contract Nerds-Docusign Acquisition by in-house.simplecast.com

Unlocking Your Legal Career: Personal Branding, Community, and The Contract Nerds-Docusign Acquisition

When it comes to in-house counsel using general AI tools for contracts (base LLMs), my recommendation is to think: oreo cookie. 

1. human first
2. AI second
3. human third

Sandwich the AI review with human reviews. 

Here’s why:

- Sandwiching the AI review in between the human initial review and final review is the best way to ensure accuracy and appropriate context fit of the AI output. 

- If you don’t use your contracting skills, you will lose them, just like with any other technical sport or skill. 

- Doing the initial review and redlines yourself will reduce the amount of time you spend editing and revising the first output because your input will be more fully contextualized. 

- This is a good way to learn how to use AI, how much you can rely on it, and where you find it to be valuable for the work you do.

After using several LLMs to test out contract redlines and review, this is my recommendation when using an LLM that is not purpose fit or customized to you. In this case, the AI is the yummy icing in the center of the cookie. 

However, if you’re building playbooks and training your AI tool on exactly what you want, that’s a different story. In that case, you’re investing time and knowledge so that you can use AI first and do the human review second. The custom playbook IS the initial human review, automated into the workflow by AI. (I’m not there yet, but I’ll be there soon!)

Would love to know your thoughts on this approach in the comments! 

#oreocookies #aicontractreview #legalai #aiandcontracts

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Meet Cherell Harris, Esq., PMP, LSSBB, the latest winner of a 1:1 session with me from a Contract Nerds 📝 🤓 webinar! 

She is an impressive second-career attorney who made the leap from pharmaceutical engineering to technology transactions law. After completing her law degree in 2019 and working at Smith Anderson, Cherell is now at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina—and she's already thinking about her next chapter in privacy law.

As someone who values the unique perspectives that non-traditional paths bring to the legal profession, I loved hearing Cherell's story and discussing how her engineering background shapes her approach to contracts and technology work.

Here are three topics we explored in our 1:1:

1. Building your brand while building your career. Cherell is speaking at an upcoming Women in Bio event and wants to grow her presence in the legal community. We talked about how building in public compounds over time. You don't need a massive platform to start; you just need to start.

2. The evolving legal landscape and staying curious. From her work on COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing to her interest in privacy certification, Cherell embodies the kind of intellectual curiosity that makes great lawyers. We discussed how the legal profession is changing rapidly and how leaning into emerging areas (like privacy and AI) can open unexpected doors.

3. Finding joy in the work (not just the title). One of Cherell's goals really stuck with me: she wants to find joy in her day-to-day work and life. We talked about how career satisfaction isn't just about climbing the ladder—it's about designing a practice that energizes you and aligns with who you are outside of work.

To the career pivoters and second-career attorneys in our community: What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone considering a major career change into law? 

Drop it in the comments for Cherell and others contemplating this path.

Cherell, thank you for your time and for being such an engaged member of this community. I can't wait to see where your career takes you next. 🙌

For a chance to win a 1:1 with me or Jessica Nguyen, be sure to attend the next Contract Nerds 📝 🤓 webinar live.

#InHouseCounsel #ContractNerds #LegalCommunity #CareerTransition

Lawyers are the perfect builders for so many reasons. 

What are those reasons? How can you build while working? What are you sacrificing for success? Is it worth it?

Tune in to this talk with the amazing Olga V. Mack and my partner-in-acqui Jessica Nguyen, each of whom are builders of real leverage. 

Link in post below ⬇️

CEO at TermScout | Making Contracts Trustworthy, Comparable, and AI-Ready

Lawyers are often told to pick a lane. Practice law or build something. Be in-house or be entrepreneurial. Play it safe or take risks.

On Friday, January 23, at 10 am PST, we are going to challenge that framing.

I am hosting a live episode of Notes to My (Legal) Self with Nada Alnajafi and Jessica Nguyen, two in-house leaders who have actually done the thing people love to theorize about. They built personal brands. They built communities. They built real businesses. And they did it while holding demanding in-house roles.

We will talk candidly about what it really looks like to build on the side, where personal branding actually pays off and where it does not, how monetization happens without blowing up your day job, and what changes when a side project turns into something big enough to be acquired.

We will also get honest about the hard parts. Time. Doubt. Energy. Tradeoffs. The moments where quitting feels like the rational choice.

If you are an in-house lawyer with ideas but have not taken the leap, or you have taken it quietly and are wondering what comes next, this conversation is for you.

Join us live on Friday, January 23, at 10 am PST.

#generalcounsel #inhousecounsel

—
Olga V. Mack
I build legal systems for real life.

Beyond the Day Job: How In-House Lawyers Create Real Leverage

I’m super excited to be keynoting CLAS 2026 - CrushLegal Academy of Success alongside Colin S. McCarthy to share our stories of building, growing, selling, and beyond.  

I’ve attended CLAS for the last two years and Roma Khan does such a great job of bringing together a passionate crowd, expert speakers, and awesome event spaces and activities. There’s a reason I won’t miss it on my conference tour each spring. 

Grab your free ticket at the link in post below
See you in Chicago soon!

Contracts Queen, Biz Attorney. CLM Maximizer. Fortune GC & CLAS Host. Tech inventor. Avocado, & Fashionista. Humanizing contracts. Motto: Simplify. Select. Execute. #LegalSparkle

We’re thrilled to share Nada Alnajafi and Colin S. McCarthy as CLAS 2026 keynote speakers! Two powerhouse voices. One unforgettable keynote. 🎤

Nada Alnajafi is an award-winning in-house counsel, author, and legal innovator who founded Contract Nerds 📝 🤓, a vibrant contracts community and resource that she grew into a leading voice for contracts professionals before selling it to Docusign in 2025. Nada also authored Contract Redlining Etiquette, a best-selling guide on practical redlining and negotiation practices. Nada’s work brings clarity, strategy, and humanity to the world of contracts and legal education.

Colin S. McCarthy is a dynamic legal operations and technology leader and founder who built Legal Operators into one of the most vibrant global communities for legal ops professionals. After exiting Legal Operators, he continued his mission of community and collaboration through his new initiative, Our Legal Community, bringing together legal professionals around shared knowledge, events, and innovation. Colin's work energizes the legal ops ecosystem, fostering connections and practical insight across the industry.

Together, Nada Alnajafi and Colin S. McCarthy bring their journeys from in-house legal roles to entrepreneurial success, along with real-world experience and community-first leadership, to the CLAS - CrushLegal Academy of Success 2026 stage.

CLAS 2026 opening keynote will spark new ways of thinking about career, contracts, and entrepreneurship for legal professionals with this extraordinary duo leading the way.

🎟 Grab your complimentary pass before we’re completely booked! Link in comments.

📅 Date: Monday, May 11, 2026
 ⏰ Time: 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM + Reception
 📍 Location: The Ivy Room, Chicago


#business #law #contracts #clm #legalops #ai #clas2026

______________________
Contracts Queen saying it like it is. 🙂
Engage. Follow. Share.

Register for free for CLAS 2026
CrushLegalAcademy.com

CrushContracts and Relax.
CrushContracts.com

I’m also a strong advocate for formal education and love this post by Mayra Lima Custodio that mentions several great books on contracts in the post and comments. All of which are on my bookshelf.  📚

I am a strong advocate for formal education and recognize the fundamental role that law school plays in our professional development.

However, in practice, especially in Tech Law, not everything we need for our daily challenges fits into the curriculum.

That is why I’ve curated a list of books I consider the most practical and relevant for anyone working (or aspiring to work) with Tech Contracts.

All are very hands-on, the kind of reference guides you consult, highlight, and revisit whenever a difficult negotiation or review comes up.

🔖 THE TECH CONTRACTS HANDBOOK 
✒Author: David W. Tollenn (David Tollen) 
📍 Publisher: American Bar Association (ABA) 
🔗 https://lnkd.in/dHT3Rbd7

✅ What you’ll learn: A clause-by-clause breakdown of tech contracts (SaaS, cloud, software licensing). It covers data privacy, warranties, indemnities, open source, SLAs, and limitation of liability. 
🏆 Why it’s worth it: The ABA IP Section’s #1 bestseller. It is the "bible" for structuring, negotiating, and reviewing technology agreements.

📖 CONTRACT REDLINING ETIQUETTE 
✒Author: Nada Alnajafi (Nada Alnajafi) 
📍 Publisher: Contract Nerds United 
🔗 https://lnkd.in/dghXb8Cs

✅ What you’ll learn: 10 practical rules to accelerate negotiations, reduce value leakage, collaborate internally, and eliminate contract bias. 
🏆 Why it’s worth it: Recommended by Google, Glowforge, and Stanford. It fills a crucial gap rarely explored in law school.

📖 NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE 
✒Author: Chris Voss (Christopher Voss) 
📍 Publisher: Harper Business 
🔗 https://lnkd.in/d8Ry--MR

✅ What you’ll learn: High-stakes negotiation techniques applied to contracts, such as tactical empathy, mirroring, labeling, and calibrated questions.
🏆 Why it’s worth it: A global bestseller (5M+ copies). It applies the psychology of life-or-death negotiations to business, salaries, and complex contracts.

Have you read any of these yet?

Tell me which other books in the field are in your top 3, I want to add them to my 2026 reading list!

I have seen the deck, I have seen the free companion giveaway (AI Addendum Template 👀), and I have seen these speakers in action before. You’re all in for a treat! Be sure to sign up and login early to attend live, this is a big one. ⬇️

In just three days, Contract Nerds will be hosting a free 75-minute virtual webinar on AI Addendums: Drafting, Negotiating, and Adapting to the New Norm!

Join us this Thursday, January 22nd at 9 AM PST / 12 PM ET / 5 PM GMT for a practical discussion on why AI creates different risks than traditional software. Learn how lawyers and contracts professionals can address data training rights, output ownership, liability, and transparency with clear addendum language.

Joining us is Laura Belmont, Matthew Kohel, and our host, 
Jessica Nguyen!

Don’t wait until the last minute, register today!

REGISTER HERE >> https://lnkd.in/eSek3MZB

Thank you to our sponsor Docusign!

#ContractNerds #ContractsCommunity #AIContracts #AIAddendums #ContractDrafting #Sponsoredby Docusign

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