Mary O'Carroll - The Power of Community in Driving Change

Ironclad's Chief Community Officer, Mary O'Carroll, has spent the past two decades bringing business acumen to the legal industry. In an industry run by lawyers, most of whom had little to no business training, Mary points out that it is logical that legal ops teams are needed to be the right-hand people in helping lawyers in the business process. Her experience with Orrick, Google, CLOC, and now Ironclad has one common thread, and that is the need to drive change. Mary says that it is just a part of her personality to be laser-focused on efficiency and find ways to clean up the mess she uncovers in the legal industry. It is that desire to drive change through the use of the legal community that helped her make the decision to join Ironclad and the hot field of Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM). Mary points out that the industry has worked to improve efficiency in many areas, but when it comes to contracts, we are continuing to do business as usual. Creating a digital contracting system will help scale the industry, as well as enable us to leverage data, which has always been trapped in contracts, and create new methods for the legal department to help drive the overall success of the business, and no longer be seen as a department where ideas and innovation go to die. Information Inspirations Our own Casey Flaherty advises us to stop trying to be a hero, and learn to say no when it comes to spreading resources too thin. Check out his latest article, "Maybe, Don’t Be MacGyver – The Value of Value Storytelling." Singapore is launching a couple of Dalek-looking robots to monitor "undesirable behavior" among its citizens. Is this a logical use of technology or a slippery slope toward technology overreach? O'Melveny and Myers is the first law firm to join Peloton's Corporate Wellness Program.  The next time you go through a drive-thru, you may hear the crisp, clear voice of an AI program taking your order. Will the robots take more and more of the service jobs away, and will there be a shift in the way the government taxes those robot workers who replace humans? Share with a friend If you like what you hear, please share the podcast with a friend or colleague. Contact Us Twitter: @gebauerm or @glambert. Voicemail: 713-487-7270 Email: [email protected]. As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca who has a new album coming out in October! A transcript is available on 3 Geeks' site.