
David Tollen, Technology Contracts Expert, Joins LegalSifter as Advisor
May 16, 2018
LegalSifter is proud to announce that David Tollen has joined the company as an advisor.
David is a lawyer and the founder of Tech Contracts Academy, which provides training on IT contracts – for contract managers, procurement officers, and IT staff, as well as for lawyers. He’s also the author of the ABA’s bestselling manual on IT agreements, The Tech Contracts Handbook: Cloud Computing Agreements, Software Licenses, and Other IT Contracts for Lawyers and Businesspeople. David practices law with Sycamore Legal, P.C., a San Francisco firm he founded. He represents buyers and sellers in IT contracts. He also provides advice and assistance related to data security, e-commerce, and IP. David graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and has degrees from Cambridge University and U.C. Berkeley.
LegalSifter’s clients review contracts in a minute or two using artificial intelligence and the advice of their lawyers and leaders. Users start by uploading draft contracts into LegalSifter. Sifters – the software trained to read text, look for specific concepts, and learn over time – then review the document and identify important concepts that demand attention or are missing entirely. The Sifters trigger Help Text, in-context advice tailored to the client’s business and negotiation position.
LegalSifter is building a global network of contract drafting experts to direct product strategy and write the default Help Text, in-context advice accessible by clients. David Tollen joins Ken Adams, author of the bestselling A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, as an advisor to LegalSifter.
“I don’t think robots will ever take our jobs. Rather, AI will make lawyers and other contract drafters more efficient, effective, and valued by our clients and employers,” said David Tollen. “LegalSifter is at the cutting edge of that effort, so I’m honored to join the team. And my industry, information technology, will surely be among the most eager to adopt the new tools. And as a trainer on IT contracts, through Tech Contracts Academy, I’m always on the hunt for tools my students can use to apply my techniques more effectively and easily to their own contracts. LegalSifter is the ideal tool.”
Kevin Miller, LegalSifter’s CEO, said, “We built our company on the belief that the combination of technology and human expertise is more impactful than either alone. Our goal is to deliver the advice of the world’s most respected thought leaders in seconds using artificial intelligence. With David joining our global patchwork of contract experts, we have taken a significant step towards achieving that goal.”