Transforming Contract Management with LinkSquares

In the fast-moving world of biotech, every contract carries significant weight. With complex research collaborations and confidentiality agreements, each document has the potential to influence timelines, budgets, and compliance. For one clinical-stage biotech company with two programs in the clinic and a workforce of about 50 employees, managing this volume of highly specialized agreements was a daunting challenge… especially with a legal department of one.

The company’s General Counsel knew that keeping pace with demands using manual methods and generic repositories was unsustainable. Traditional tools, like Excel spreadsheets or legacy contract repositories, couldn’t provide the visibility, accountability, or speed the business required. Requests from across departments, ranging from finance to research and development, often piled up. Each had its own urgency, and without a unified system, tracking progress or answering even simple questions became a time-consuming task.

That’s where LinkSquares came in. Built with legal teams in mind, LinkSquares offered this biotech company a streamlined, intuitive platform that not only centralized contracts but also gave leadership confidence that agreements were properly managed, reported, and accessible. For a single-person legal team, it meant the difference between struggling to keep pace with contract requests and operating as a trusted partner across the business.

The Weight of Every Contract on a Single Desk

Managing contracts in a biotech environment is never simple. Each agreement, whether a CDA, MSA, SOW, or research collaboration, comes with unique requirements that can’t be handled by cookie-cutter processes. For this clinical-stage company, the task was made even more complex by the fact that the legal department consisted of just one person.

As the General Counsel explained, every agreement across the company flowed through a single desk:

Without a purpose-built system, the process was cumbersome. Legacy repositories and spreadsheets quickly became outdated, forcing manual effort at every step. That meant less time for strategic legal work and more time spent chasing down details.

The result was a system that functioned, but demanded too much time and offered too little transparency for a lean organization moving quickly toward clinical milestones.

A Better Way Forward

When the General Counsel began evaluating contract management tools, the goal was simple: find a system that was easy to use, quick to adopt, and capable of keeping pace with the demands of a biotech environment. Past experience with legacy repositories and manual tracking had shown just how frustrating outdated systems could be.

Ease of use was only part of the equation. The implementation experience also mattered. For a company with a small legal function, having a partner willing to provide patient, hands-on support was critical. Implementing a system that is easy to get rolling, while remaining highly useful for the team, has been a major improvement.

Compared to prior tools, LinkSquares stood out not only for its simplicity but also for its adaptability. The platform could scale up to meet complex needs but also remain straightforward enough to manage day-to-day contract intake.

For this biotech company, the solution wasn’t just about replacing spreadsheets or repositories. It was about gaining a platform that supported accountability, transparency, and collaboration across departments.

Results That Matter

With LinkSquares in place, the impact was immediate. Instead of juggling spreadsheets and disconnected systems, the company’s legal department gained a centralized, easy-to-use platform that delivered speed, visibility, and accountability across the business.

Collaboration Across Departments

LinkSquares has made it easier for other teams to get the information they need. Research and finance, in particular, benefit from having clear visibility into contracts and their potential impact.

For finance, this visibility keeps budgets aligned with signed agreements instead of relying on after-the-fact reconciliations. Meanwhile, research teams continue to gain confidence that collaboration agreements and CDAs are being tracked properly, which keeps projects moving forward without confusion. By giving stakeholders access to the same source of truth, LinkSquares reduces back-and-forth communication and empowers teams to make faster, better-informed decisions.

Reporting and Accountability

The ability to quickly generate reports has changed how quarter-end and year-end processes are handled. What once required manual double-checking across spreadsheets is now streamlined.

By making contract activity transparent and verifiable, LinkSquares turns reporting from a manual chore into a source of clarity for the entire organization.

Transparency Without Bottlenecks

One of the biggest advantages of LinkSquares has been its ability to show where a contract stands without turning the legal department into a bottleneck. Instead of relying on one person to track every detail, the platform provides a transparent view that empowers teams to move work forward.

This transparency shifts accountability in a collaborative way. Teams no longer wait on the legal department to provide updates or hunt through email chains; they can see the status for themselves. That visibility builds trust across departments and ensures that projects stay on track without unnecessary escalation.

With LinkSquares, the company has turned contract management from a manual burden into a source of clarity for the entire organization. The most important benefits include:

Efficiency for lean legal teams

A single in-house counsel can manage the entire contract process more quickly, saving time for strategic work.

Transparency across departments

Finance and research teams gain visibility into contract status and budget impact, reducing back-and-forth communication.

Stronger reporting

Quarter-end and year-end reports are streamlined, with a verifiable record that builds trust across the business.

Clear accountability

Contract status is visible to everyone, so progress continues without bottlenecks or unnecessary escalation.

For lean legal teams looking to achieve the same clarity and efficiency, LinkSquares offers a proven path forward.

Want to see how LinkSquares can empower lean legal teams to work faster and smarter?

Get in touch with our team to explore the platform and see it in action.