The E.W. Scripps Company has been providing quality journalism for more than a century. Today, it primarily operates as one of the nation’s largest local TV broadcasters while also managing numerous national networks dedicated to news, sports and entertainment. The company is continually adapting to the ever-evolving media landscape, striving to deliver information and entertainment to audiences where and when they want it.

Historical webs and legal labyrinths

The legal landscape at Scripps is a mosaic of complexity, dynamism, and history. With nearly 150 years under its belt, the company has evolved from a traditional newspaper enterprise to a powerhouse in local TV broadcasting and national networks. However, such a legacy brings its own fair share of challenges, especially when it comes to contract management and legal operations.

Director of Contract Management Miranda Craft and her team oversee the pre-signature review process for the entire company. A heavy reliance on third-party paper made it difficult for legal to keep up with the volume of contract reviews.

Their longevity also poses unique challenges such as dealing with contracts dating back to the 1930s, which present difficulties for automated processing. Additionally, the company's growth through several acquisitions resulted in contracts scattered in different locations — in their homegrown repository, on people’s desktops, and sometimes even stuck in file cabinets. Centralizing all their agreements was a major priority.

“Our process was due for some updating,” says Greg Anderson, VP and chief privacy officer. “LinkSquares became an essential part of improving the management of vendor agreements.”

The leap from legacy to lucidity

While contract centralization was critical, reporting was also top of mind — one place to have a view into all agreements and provide real value back to the business by pushing out analytics.  To accomplish this, the Scripps team turned to LinkSquares.

“The LinkSquares team provided extensive support,” remarked Miranda, “guiding us in best practices for setting up our repository and jumpstarting the process of renaming agreements in a standard format, given our several entities.”

And it didn’t take long to feel the impact. “After handing roughly 3,000 contracts in one large file with no metadata tagged, miraculously, they showed up in Analyze,” Miranda continued. The team at Scripps was excited to see that Analyze was intuitive enough for them to dive in. Miranda notes, "Centralizing our contracts into a searchable, well-governed repository not only cleared the clutter but became our quick win, getting buy-in by people understanding the value of knowing what’s in your contracts."

Contract mastery with a dash of AI spice

The biggest value-add of LinkSquares has been the organization and efficiency it brings to contract management, allowing for faster responses to requests and better insight into the company's contracts. Scripps is currently implementing LinkSquares' pre-signature tool, Finalize, and testing out new generative AI functionality to speed up contract review and negotiation.

For now, Miranda and her team have established a center of excellence for all things contracts. “We understood that any CLM is not a ‘set it and forget it’ tool and recognized the need for a team to own the repository and maintain the data,” Miranda notes. This understanding led them to establish a more standardized process for contract reviews and appoint a centralized contact for that purpose, gaining buy-in from the steering committee and senior leadership.

“A lot of people still don't fully understand how contracts should work in an organization,” she goes on. “And so, having that kind of centralized place where people can go for answers and guidance is key.”

The Scripps story isn't just about history and progression; it's about the innovative spirit that drives change management and underscores the importance of agility inside storied organizations. They’ve championed this through bold steps, marrying the best of both worlds: a respect for tradition and a relentless push towards the future. This is more than a contract management journey – it's a tale of reinvention.