Get to know our new General Counsel, Lexi Lutz

Summize has taken the next big step and hired our first full-time General Counsel – Lexi Lutz! Lexi is an attorney with over 10 years of in-house legal experience from companies such as Nordstrom, Extended Stay America and Compass Group USA. As Summize’s first General Counsel, Lexi will work closely with all areas of Summize – from our product and engineering teams to shape the future of our CLM, to our go-to-market teams as we continue to disrupt the status quo.

Most importantly, Lexi will become a true partner with our customers, using her in-house legal and technology experience to help all business functions use AI and legal tech to enhance and empower their work even more effectively!

We sat down with Lexi to get her take on her new position. Take a look at her initial ideas and where she sees the future of her role heading.

Get to know Lexi

Tom Dunlop, CEO and Co-founder: I first started Summize when I saw a clear use case for how technology could solve some of the legal challenges I faced when I was an in-house General Counsel. Drawing on your 10 years of experience, what are some of the biggest challenges you see legal teams facing, and where do you think your input will be most helpful?

I have worked in-house for over a decade now and regardless of the type of contracts that an in-house legal team is working on, the number one biggest challenge I see is ‘velocity versus veracity’.

Because businesses are constantly trying to get contracts executed as soon as possible, with the highest volume possible, whereas the legal department wants to make sure that everything is accurate and that all the risks are accounted for. These two requirements, from the business and legal, are typically at odds with one another - you either have to get tasks completed really fast, but they might not be fully accurate or thorough enough. Or, you are very thorough but then the task moves at a snail’s pace.

Therefore, I am really excited to jump in and assist our customers with these challenges,  because I think this is a problem that can be solved with our CLM solution and can help customers be more of a strategic business partner, versus just working on the low complexity, repetitive tasks.

We know that the brain power of legal really adds more value in the strategic conversations, therefore I’d like to work with our customers so that they understand the advantages of outsourcing the lower-level tasks to Summize.

Taylor Konop, Account Executive: We all know that the true success of a CLM is when the whole business adopts the solution and works together, especially the likes of sales and legal working as one team. Where do you feel you can add the most value in helping organizations make inroads in this area?

We all know that implementing a contract lifecycle management (CLM) tool is a ton of work, both on the CLM provider’s side as well as the business’ side and it definitely does not happen overnight – implementing a CLM can almost be a part time job to make sure it’s rolled out efficiently and successfully to whole business.

Rolling out to the whole business is not going to happen overnight. And this is one area that I'm really excited about with Summize because our CLM solution really does integrate itself into the business processes that are already in place. Our CLM allows the business to start using the software within Slack, Teams, etc. in order to make the solution easier for the whole business to adopt.

Leanne Hayes, Product Owner: AI is of course the buzzword of the moment, and we all know that AI and legal brings both opportunities, but also a lot of responsibility. How will you help our customers understand how to use AI safely, but confidently too?

I think that a lot of business teams, such as marketing and sales, are doing a great job leveraging AI – it’s the shiny new toy and everyone is wanting to use it regardless of the business or industry that they are in.

Legal teams have done a great job being super innovative and implementing and leveraging AI. But many legal teams, mainly because the law famously moves at a snail's pace, aren’t as quick to adopt AI as some of the other parts of the business.

Therefore, I think it's really important for legal teams to step out of their shell, be innovative, find ways to leverage AI, while being responsible and making sure you have the guardrails in place, of course.

The safety and having guardrails in place is a big reason why I’m excited to work for Summize because the business has found ways to implement AI responsibly, while enabling business efficiency and empowering legal teams to use AI.

It’s vital to give our customers confidence that the information they put into Summize is completely secure. I come from the privacy and security world myself, so I completely understand the concerns around AI security and I want to make sure our customers feel at ease with our tool and its outputs.

Adriana Nuschke, Customer Success Lead: We really want our customers to feel a sense of community at Summize and ensure they get the most out of their CLM solution. How do you see your role in helping our customers with these two missions?

Having a software tool and just using it in a silo can be great, but I know that businesses can compound more value out of the tool when speaking to each other.

This is where community and knowing who you can speak to, who you can commiserate with, and who you can benchmark with is vital. That's another reason I'm excited to show that Summize is a real community. There are so many different legal teams utilizing Summize, but without having an entire community to talk to and understand how others are using the solution, it’s hard to know if you’re leveraging the tool and what it can offer to its fullest extent.

Rebecca Wood, Head of Content: We know the value of getting out from behind the screen and meeting customers face to face, attending events, connecting with legal teams in person. How do you personally stay connected with your leader network and what tips do you have for customers who are wanting to do the same?

So we've all been stuck behind screens for a while, it's kind of the new norm. While it is great to stay connected with people on LinkedIn for example, in-person energy and connection that you feel with colleagues is truly unmatched.

I definitely do my best to take advantage of in-person conferences, I'm a member of different organizations within the legal community and as well as the tech industry.  I'm heavily involved with the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, IAPP, the Boston Bar Association, and when I lived in Charlotte, the Mecklenburg County Bar.

It's also important to connect outside of some of the professional organizations, too! I really look forward to connecting with the Summize community in this way too.

Connect with Lexi

We’re thrilled to have Lexi onboard and we can’t wait to see her expertise help Summize customers and our partners. If you would like to hear more from Lexi, connect with her on LinkedIn and watch this space for more exciting news to come.