EP 17: Stop Chasing Perfect Legal Work, Start Solving Problems

What does it really take to transition from law firm perfection to real-world business impact? In this episode, Rebekah Punak shares her journey from litigation to in-house roles at fast-growing companies like Instacart and Meta Platforms, and now leading legal at Faire. She unpacks how early exposure to startup environments reshaped her mindset—from aiming for perfect legal work to making fast, practical decisions that move the business forward. The conversation explores how to build legal functions from scratch, why investing in legal operations early creates long-term efficiency, and how lawyers can become true business partners. Rebekah also shares how AI is changing the way legal teams operate and why the real opportunity isn’t doing the same work faster, but doing entirely new things that weren’t possible before.Topics 00:00 Introduction 01:44 Early interest in law and breaking stereotypes about who can be a lawyer 03:55 Starting career in litigation and early expectations vs reality 08:10 Transition to in-house at Instacart and entering a startup environment 10:20 Transition to startup life: problem-solving without infrastructure 12:36 Why legal ops matters: efficiency, process, and team effectiveness 15:36 Transition to Meta: navigating scale and complexity 18:55 Becoming a trusted business partner and aligning with product teams 23:50 AI in legal: opportunities, use cases, and shifting mindset 35:02 Future of legal work, career advice, and leadership at scaleConnect with us: Rebekah Punak  - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekah-punak-4b965a6/ Akshay Verma - https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-verma-esq/ SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.