We are LegalOn: Meet Mike Contillo, Head of Product

Welcome to another post in our series, We are LegalOn, where we introduce our US team members and share why we are so excited about LegalOn. Our team brings cutting-edge technology to legal teams with LegalOn's popular contract review tool, trusted by thousands of companies and firms worldwide. 

This week, we meet Mike Contillo, our Head of Product. After graduating from Harvard with his JD/MBA, he’s become a product and legal tech enthusiast. He’s worn many hats throughout his career, including legal tech founder, McKinsey alum, Product at LinkedIn, and VC. In his free time, Mike enjoys time with friends, family, and his two French Bulldogs. 

Tell us more about yourself and your professional background.

Before LegalOn, I worked in Product at Linkedin, where I had the opportunity to partner with talented colleagues and release large-scale products that will deliver value to millions of users for years to come. I’m an ex-founder of a LegalTech startup. I’ve worked for McKinsey, VCs, and Citi across product, strategy, ops, and corporate finance roles. I received my BA from the University of Pennsylvania, my JD from Harvard Law, and my MBA from Harvard Business School.

What led you to join LegalOn? 

I joined for three main reasons:

1. LegalOn is solving a real, large-scale problem faced by legal teams today: contract review is too time-consuming (and often tedious). Our AI technology delivers huge value to thousands of legal teams in Japan daily, and I’m energized by its massive impact potential in the US.
2. My role here is a marriage of my passions for product, legal tech, the law, and language.
3. I am impressed by the team’s experience, drive, and commitment to excellence.

What makes you excited about legal tech? 

The US legal market is ripe for technological innovation. Gartner predicts that US legal tech spending will grow to 12% of in-house budgets by 2025 (a 300% increase from 2020). Legal players have a rapidly growing appetite for technology to support productivity, boost efficiency, and free up their team’s capacity to focus on even more meaningful work. Not to mention, legal tech is already playing a material role in improving the work-life balance of legal professionals. Those are the ingredients for an exciting space to share products that will deliver meaningful value to users! 

Why do you think it is the right time for contract review AI? 

Getting contract review “right” is a tough problem to crack. Contracts can be long, legal language is esoteric, and mistakes in the review process are costly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we see far less saturation in the contract review market than in other stages of the contract lifecycle management process (e.g., execution/sign or post-sign). At the same, AI technology is rapidly evolving, and legal teams across the US recognize the opportunity to leverage innovation to deliver stronger contracts faster.

AI technology is rapidly evolving, and legal teams across the US recognize the opportunity to leverage innovation to deliver stronger contracts faster.

Fortunately, contract review AI is LegalOn’s bread and butter! We’re ready to address this unmet need in the US.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

This one’s easy: I love spending time with family and friends. I have a partner who keeps me laughing, two French Bulldogs that follow me into every room, and a great group of friends who have become family. I also enjoy reading (typically fiction), skiing (though my friends put me to shame), and writing (wishful aspiration to publish a novel one day).

‍