Rodan + Fields: CLM Maintenance Cut From 3–4 Weeks to 3–4 Minutes

When Shannon Pedroni became Director of Contracts Management & Legal Operations at Rodan + Fields, she inherited a clunky CLM that slowed everything down. As Rodan + Fields pivoted its business to an affiliate fueled omni-channel business model, agility — not complexity — was non-negotiable. Pedroni knew the system had to change.

The Breaking Point

The legacy system lacked automation, transparency, and user-friendly design – crushing adoption. IT, not Legal, had to babysit every tiny tweak. “With the prior system, it took 3–4 weeks to make simple administrative changes, and now it takes 3–4 minutes,” Pedroni shared. Reliance on scarce engineering resources froze the platform in time — it simply couldn’t keep pace with the business needs. Teams from marketing to supply chain dreaded the tool’s silos and manual drudgery; even basic NDAs or MSAs ballooned into significant time-sinks.

Choosing a New Path

Pedroni weighed two options: pour money into an upgrade or start fresh with a new CLM. The future system had to be intuitive on day one and fully administered by Legal—no IT tickets required. “Ease of use for the business was a must-have. If users find it troublesome, adoption fails,” Pedroni explained. Ironclad quickly stood out because Legal could add users, tweak approvals, design new workflows, and analyze data themselves—no more IT bottlenecks.

Implementation On a Countdown

Once over the hump of an intensive vetting and approval process for the new system, Pedroni was left with just four weeks from kickoff to go-live. “The compressed timeline kept me up at night,” she recalled.

Phase 1 tackled migrating documents—a slog because the old system lacked bulk-export tools.

Working with Ironclad system integrator Consilio, the team went live first with NDAs and a catch-all workflow; within only a month, MSAs, DPAs, and legal-only flows followed. Despite the sprint, users adopted the platform immediately thanks to its simplicity and Pedroni’s tight change-management plan.

Scaling With AI

Rodan + Fields was an early adopter of Ironclad’s AI tools, starting with AI Assist for drafting and then Jurist for deeper reviews. With AI Assist, Pedroni highlights a clause, states the goal, and receives instant redlines.

Jurist shines on third-party contracts: custom prompts flag non-standard clauses, rank risk, and propose fixes in a clear table.

Jurist also translates dense legalese for business teams. “Sometimes it’s unsettling how good Jurist is,” Pedroni joked. “But it frees us for higher-value work which is critical.”

Enterprise-Wide Coverage

Today, Ironclad manages every contract at Rodan + Fields —from marketing and innovation to supply chain and IT. Next up: integrating Coupa to extend automation into Procurement.

Tracking the Wins

“We slashed cycle time from weeks to days—and sometimes hours—then shaved off even more with Jurist,” Pedroni said. Ironclad’s dashboards reveal contract volumes, spend by cost center, and shifts in demand and resource needs. 

“Catching auto-renewals before they hit always saves real money,” Pedroni noted.

Automation in Action

Business users now auto-generate MSAs and NDAs in minutes, freeing Legal for high value feedback and negotiations. Instant routing removes bottlenecks, turning Legal into a strategic advisor instead of a gatekeeper.

A Partnership That Keeps Advancing

“I trust Ironclad to keep innovating and to fix issues fast,” she said. “Every Ironclad teammate I’ve met is top-notch, and the community is an ongoing classroom,” Pedroni added.

Pedroni concluded, “Ironclad lets Legal shift from routine and sometimes even clerical work to strategic, data-driven partnership—an undeniable business boost.”