Beacon Voices is SpotDraft’s podcast spotlighting the people shaping how legal really works today. Hosted by Akshay Verma, it features candid conversations on leadership, legal ops, and the real-world impact of AI in legal teams.
EP 21: The Real Value of a Contract Is Clarity | Linsey Krolik, Credo AI
On this episode of Beacon Voices, Akshay Verma (COO at SpotDraft) sits down with Linsey Krolik, Senior Director of AI Governance and Product Legal at Credo AI, and co-author of the American Bar Association's new book, Visual Literacy for Lawyers.
Linsey talks about how the book came together, why relationships with the business matter more than adding more words, and why she says hands-on use is how you learn what AI can and can't do.
Linsey Krolik is Senior Director of AI Governance and Product Legal at Credo AI, and co-author of Visual Literacy for Lawyers: A Guide to Enhancing Your Contracts and Practice (ABA), alongside Olga Mack and Tessa Manuello.
Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction
07:28 – The core problem: contracts people can't understand, and the typewriter-era habits behind them
12:06 – Who the book is for
16:11 – The evidence: how little readers retain
21:13 – AI and product counsel: why relationships matter more than more words
28:28 – Learning AI by using it
31:17 – Webinar preview and Linsey's best advice
Connect with us:
Linsey Krolik - https://www.linkedin.com/in/linseykrolik
Akshay Verma - https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-verma-esq/
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft
SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.
8 Oct 2026
EP 20: Legal Design 101: Why Your Contracts Are Creating Cognitive Overload
In this episode of Beacon Voices, Akshay Verma (COO at SpotDraft) sits down with Tessa Manuello, founder and CEO of Legal Creatives, and co-author of the American Bar Association's new book, Visual Literacy for Lawyers.
Tessa Manuello is the founder and CEO of Legal Creatives and co-author of Visual Literacy for Lawyers: A Guide to Enhancing Your Contracts and Practice (ABA), alongside Olga Mack and Lindsay Krolik.
Tessa unpacks why contracts can be legally airtight and still fail the people who actually have to use them, why most legal documents haven't visually evolved since the typewriter, and how a few design fundamentals can fix that without turning lawyers into graphic designers. She also walks through her own journey from managing international arbitration cases to building Legal Creatives from scratch. Tessa also digs into the cognitive science behind why dense, cluttered contracts overwhelm the brain. She closes with a claim worth sitting with: not a single legal-design contract has ever landed in court.
Topics:
00:00 – Introduction
06:35 – Moving upstream: from dispute resolution to contract design
09:30 – The founding of Legal Creatives
16:51 – How Tessa, Olga, and Lindsay came together to co-author the book
19:58 – The "typewriter era": why legal documents still look decades old
31:38 – What visual design actually changes: icons, color, dividers, font size
36:41 – Bringing AI into the conversation: does anyone need to read the contract anymore?
44:21 – What Tessa hopes people take away from the October 29 webinar
46:32 – Closing: why this is cheap, accessible, and doesn't require becoming a designer
Connect with us:
Tessa Manuello- linkedin.com/in/tessa-manuello
Akshay Verma - https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-verma-esq/
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft
SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.
About the podcast: SpotDraft Beacon Voices is hosted by Akshay Verma, COO of SpotDraft, featuring conversations with leaders in law, legal technology, and contracting.
24 Sept 2026
EP 19: Why Lawyers Need a New Visual Language in the Age of AI
In this episode of Beacon Voices, Akshay Verma (COO at SpotDraft) speaks with Olga, CEO of TermScout, former General Counsel, and co-author of the American Bar Association's new book, Visual Literacy for Lawyers.
Olga talks about why most contracts are technically excellent and practically useless, why "information" is no longer a competitive advantage in the age of AI, and what lawyers should actually be training for instead.
Here, she also traces her path from art school dreams to Wilson Sonsini to General Counsel to becoming a legal tech founder. She also gets into why less than 10% of law students ever learn to draft a contract, and why she believes AI makes human judgment more valuable, not less.
Topics
Introduction: 00:00
Why she wrote "Visual Literacy for Lawyers": 2:28
Who the book is really for: lawyers, clients, and counterparties: 8:21
Judgment vs. information — two very different skills: 12:10
What law school actually teaches: litigation over drafting: 15:35
Using AI to analyze lawyers' transcripts: 25:04
Should law students read this book? Olga's hope for 1L curriculum: 31:30
Closing thoughts: changing humans' relationship with contracts: 33:30
Connect with us:
Olga V- https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgamack/
Akshay Verma - https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-verma-esq/
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft
SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.
Contact Beacon Voices
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Beacon Voices?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
