EP 01: What Law School Didn't Teach Me: Real Lawyering & Building an In-House Career

In the first episode of the newly rebranded Beacon Voices, Akshay Verma, COO of SpotDraft, speaks with Product Counsel Flora Kontilis, about building a modern in-house legal career. Flora shares how working in sales ops shaped her approach to lawyering, why law school was a means to an end, and how mentorship and small teams accelerate real learning. The conversation breaks down what product counsels actually do: operating in gray areas, partnering with product teams, and navigating regulated environments. They also discuss career stagnation, growth mindset, and how AI is a tool to support judgment, not replace it.     Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-01Topics: Topics: Introduction: 00:00 Why Flora chose law school: early motivations, prestige, and evolving definitions of success: 05:09 Pre-law-school experiences: Capitol Hill, journalism, and the wine industry: 08:58 Lessons from sales ops: empathy, urgency, relationship-building, and “getting to yes.”: 11:00 Flora’s law school reality: difficulty, mindset shifts, internships, and finding purpose: 19:40 Why practical experience mattered more than grades and how internships shaped her path: 21:59 First in-house role at Vendavo: mentorship, training, and learning by doing: 29:40 Knowing when to move on: stagnation, personal change, and leaving Vendavo: 38:37 Joining Asana and Axiom, working with Google: scale, contracting models, and risk exposure: 40:00 Transition to AppFolio and moving into a product counsel role: 48:52 What product counsel actually does: partnering with product teams and shaping decisions: 51:36 Learning regulated environments: insurance law, licensing, and NAIC frameworks: 53:06 Learning to Think Like Product Counsel: Curiosity, Context, and Judgment: 55:01 AI in legal work: when it helps, when it doesn’t, and why judgment still matters: 01:02:01 Closing reflections: advice to her law-school self, long-game thinking, and becoming self-sustaining: 01:07:33SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.