Why I Started Upgrade Legal I started Upgrade Legal because I kept seeing the same pattern over and over again. Startups and growing SMEs would come to me with serious legal problems that could have been avoided if they’d just had proper documentation from the start. They’d used some template they found online. They’d copied terms from a competitor’s…
There’s No ‘NO’ in Contracting After 12+ years of contract negotiating, the biggest lesson I learned is this: There is no ‘NO’ in contracting. There’s always a YES hidden somewhere. You just need to find it. And trust me, I have heard all the ‘NO’s. “We cannot make amendments since the legal team is out for 3 months.” “We…
GDPR: The Alphabet Soup I’m building a privacy compliance register for my clients and I almost forgot how the GDPR is built on all these acronyms that the EU expects most people to understand. Here’s a real sentence from compliance documentation: “If you transfer data outside the EU/EEA without an adequacy decision, you may need a TIA, and a…
AI Stores All Your Prompts for 30+ Days (Even in Privacy Mode) As an in-house counsel, I frequently advise on the use of generative AI tools in light of data protection, confidentiality, and contractual obligations. After reviewing the terms of the most used AI tools, I discovered that AI providers store data longer than you probably knew. And the…
The Uber Ruling: What It Means for Fractional Legal Counsels The Amsterdam Court of Appeal just handed down a significant decision that has important implications for how we think about independent contractor relationships, including fractional legal counsels. The Case The FNV trade union sued Uber, arguing that all Uber drivers should be classified as employees entitled to CAO benefits….
Where Blockchain Meets Contract Law #1: KOL Agreements Since 2018 I’ve been advising blockchain projects on contracting matters. The blockchain space does things a little differently, which makes contracting more interesting than you might expect. In this series I’ll share some of the unique features and contracting matters I encounter. KOLs? A KOL (Key Opinion Leader) is the person…
Does your CEO know you let AI review your contracts? I am noticing a new trend in how internal teams are using AI. Sales teams are drafting agreements and letting AI handle the negotiations. HR is creating employee-related policies and documents. Operations is using AI to deal with supplier agreements. Marketing is agreeing on advertising terms after a quick…
Met de naam Upgrade Legal breng ik mijn twee passies samen: Recht en IT. Naast mijn werkzaamheden als jurist heb ik zelf meerdere websites opgezet en projecten gedaan waarbij ik steeds dieper in deze materie ben gedoken. Ik ben een jurist die adviseert over de technologie die hij begrijpt. Ik heb zelf gebouwd, gecodeerd, geëxperimenteerd. Ik begrijp hoe platforms…
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