Meeting of the Minds - The Legal AI Podcast

What if your contracts could become a strategic asset instead of a bottleneck? In this episode of Meeting of the Minds - The Legal AI Podcast, hosts Hal Marcus and Memme Onwudiwe sit down with Anthony Tacker, Director of Procurement and Risk at FlexGen, to explore how purpose-built legal AI is transforming contract management, accelerating deal cycles, and enabling smarter risk mitigation. 

What You'll Learn:

How to reduce contract analysis time from days to hours using purpose-built AI

The key differences between generalized AI models and specialized legal AI and why it matters for risk and compliance

Proven strategies for embedding tariff protections and adapting to shifting government policies

How to structure an effective procurement-legal partnership for faster, more accurate outcomes

Methods to identify and mitigate multi-party contract risks across large contract portfolios

Why AI is enabling a shift from hourly billing to value-based pricing models in legal and procurement services

About the Guest:

Anthony Tacker is the Director of Procurement and Risk at FlexGen and an accomplished project management executive and business operations leader. With extensive experience managing complex, multi-million-dollar capital projects and service contracts, Anthony has built a reputation for driving operational excellence and delivering measurable business results.

He has successfully led global teams and negotiated high-value, multi-year contracts across North America, Aruba, the Netherlands, and Venezuela, building strong relationships with top-tier heavy industry clients. Known for turning around underperforming operations, Anthony combines strategic vision with hands-on leadership to improve performance, mitigate risk, and accelerate growth.

Episode Resources

Anthony Tacker on LinkedIn

FlexGen Website

Workday Contract Management: Website

Hal Marcus on LinkedIn: Hal Marcus

Memme Onwudiwe on LinkedIn: Memme Onwudiwe

Theme music: "Load" Copyright © 1996 by Hal Marcus.

Legal teams are more than the firefighters of your organization. They can be the reason your business scales. In this episode of Meeting of the Minds - The Legal AI Podcast, hosts Hal Marcus and Memme Onwudiwe sit down with Olivier Plummer, Program Manager for Legal Technology and Operational Excellence at Coinbase, to explore how to leverage contract intelligence and AI agents to drive real business impact.

What You'll Learn:

How to balance centralized data governance with democratized AI innovation

Why API and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration is now non-negotiable

The "Start Simple, Impact-Driven" framework for AI implementation

How to position Legal Ops as a strategic thought partner, not a delivery function

Why contract data is a multi-stakeholder goldmine 

The critical importance of finding internal champions and managing tech debt

About the Guest:

Olivier Plummer is the Program Manager for Legal Technology and Operational Excellence at Coinbase, bringing deep expertise in contract intelligence, AI agents and enterprise legal management. With a background spanning marketing technology, entertainment and four years driving legal tech evolution at Coinbase, Olivier has become a thought leader in democratizing AI across legal departments. His work at Coinbase, including scaling contract management to handle 5,000+ agreements monthly and expanding contract analytics value across sales, finance and HR, demonstrates how AI transforms legal from a cost center into a competitive advantage.

Episode Resources

Olivier Plummer on LinkedIn: Olivier Plummer

Coinbase Website

Workday Contract Management: Website

Hal Marcus on LinkedIn: Hal Marcus

Memme Onwudiwe on LinkedIn: Memme Onwudiwe

Theme music: "Load" Copyright © 1996 by Hal Marcus.

Nothing is stopping your legal team from functioning like a high-performing business unit - except a lack of understanding and clarity on the real potential of AI. In this episode of Meeting of the Minds - The Legal AI Podcast, hosts Hal Marcus and Memme Onwudiwe sit down with Kelly McCord, Founder and Principal Consultant at SimpliPhi Management LLC and former head of legal operations at HSBC, to explore how to leverage AI and automation to transform legal workflows.

What You'll Learn:

How to cross-train multiple LLMs simultaneously to compound results

Why legal ops professionals need baseline AI literacy, not deep technical expertise

The practical framework for embedding legal earlier in business decisions

How to build AI agents with guardrails that automate routine work while preserving human control

The skill-building path to AI competency in legal operations

How to reduce contract negotiation cycles from weeks to hours using agent-to-agent negotiations

About the Guest:

Kelly McCord is the Founder and Principal Consultant at SimpliPhi Management LLC, a legal operations consulting firm. With over 20 years of experience spanning engineering, business process consulting, financial services, and legal operations (including her role as Head of Legal Operations at HSBC), Kelly has become a pioneering voice in legal technology and AI implementation. Her work helping corporate legal teams integrate cutting-edge AI tools while maintaining quality human oversight makes her a leading voice for legal operations professionals seeking to modernize their functions and demonstrate clear value to the broader organization.

Episode Resources

Kelly McCord on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-m-mccord/

SimpliPhi Website: https://simpliphillc.com/

Workday Contract Management: https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/contract-management/overview.html

Hal Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/halmarcus/

Memme Onwudiwe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/memmeonwudiwe/

Theme music: "Load" Copyright © 1996 by Hal Marcus.

What if we’re chasing the wrong problem? As it turns out, it’s not so much about getting agents ready – it’s about getting ourselves ready to benefit from them. In this episode of Meeting of the Minds – The Legal AI Podcast, Hal Marcus and Memme Onwudiwe sit down with Alex Herrity, Legal Operations Leader at adidas, to explore the strategies and frameworks that unlock transformation and capability for legal teams in the long run.
What You'll Learn:How to articulate what you actually want an AI agent to do before building or buying one

Why simplifying processes before automating them is non-negotiable

The difference between what legal leaders think happens vs. what actually happens operationally

How to use AI as an intelligence tool to audit your own legal operations

Why CLMs aren't going away and how they’re evolving

How to shift from replacing lawyers to leveling up their work

About the GuestAlex Herrity is a Legal Operations Leader at adidas with a unique background spanning both in-house counsel and legal technology innovation. Transitioning from commercial law into legal ops around 2017, he has become a thought leader on preparing legal departments for AI adoption. Co-hosting the podcast “Law://WhatsNext” alongside Tom Rice, Alex brings practical, grounded perspectives on legal technology implementation.

Episode ResourcesAlex Herrity on LinkedIn: Alex Herrity

Workday Contract Management: Website

Hal Marcus on LinkedIn: Hal Marcus

Memme Onwudiwe on LinkedIn: Memme Onwudiwe

Theme music: "Load" Copyright © 1996 by Hal Marcus.Meeting of the Minds - The Legal AI Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

How can legal leaders transition from the "Department of No" to the "Department of Growth"? In this milestone episode of Meeting of the Minds – The Legal AI Podcast, Hal Marcus and Memme Onwudiwe sit down with Workday’s Chief Legal Officer, Rich Sauer, to reflect on a year of explosive AI growth and project the trends for 2026. From his 20-year tenure at Microsoft to leading legal at Workday, Rich provides a masterclass on balancing innovation with responsibility.

What You'll Learn:The Three Pillars of Modern Legal: How Workday organizes its legal team around driving growth, protecting the brand, and earning stakeholder trust.

Agentic AI & The "Front Door": Why AI agents are becoming the new interface for legal departments to manage high-volume routine inquiries.

The End of the Contract Silo: How moving contract data into systems like Salesforce transforms "file cabinet" documents into active business drivers.

Navigating the Regulatory Patchwork: Why the EU AI Act, NIST Framework, and ISO 42001 are valuable guideposts for global AI adoption.

AI and the Human-in-the-Loop: Why soft skills like trust, empathy, and persuasive communication are more valuable now than ever before.

The Legal Business Model Tipping Point: Rich's take on the future of the billable hour and how AI is transforming the dynamic between in-house teams and outside counsel.

About the GuestRich Sauer is the Chief Legal Officer & Head of Corporate Affairs at Workday. With a career spanning twenty years at Microsoft and previous experience at Sullivan & Cromwell, Rich is a leading voice on the intersection of technology, global policy, and corporate governance. At Workday, he oversees the responsible AI team and is a primary advocate for risk-based frameworks that unlock business innovation while protecting stakeholder trust.

Episode ResourcesRich Sauer on LinkedIn: Rich Sauer

Workday Official Website: Workday.com

Workday AI & Innovation: Workday AI

Evisort (Part of Workday): Evisort Website

Regulatory Frameworks Mentioned:

EU AI Act: Official Information

NIST AI Risk Management Framework: NIST.gov

ISO/IEC 42001 (AI Management System): ISO Standards

Hal Marcus on LinkedIn: Hal Marcus

Memme Onwudiwe on LinkedIn: Memme Onwudiwe

Theme music: "Load" Copyright © 1996 by Hal Marcus.Meeting of the Minds - The Legal AI Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so