Robin Warren

About Robin Warren

Global commercial legal leader with 19+ years of experience across SaaS, publicly traded, and private equity-backed companies. I lead Avalara’s global legal team supporting commercial transactions, strategic partnerships, and procurement, helping the business to close complex deals faster while managing risk at scale. I also lead the integration of AI into legal operations and workflows, reducing friction, scaling legal expertise, and freeing lawyers to focus on higher-value, judgment-driven work. Recent work includes: • Designed and deployed custom GPT tools based on internal legal playbooks to scale contract review, reduce turnaround time, and drive more consistent issue spotting across the team• Enabled business-side self-service for low-risk agreements (including hotel and event contracts), eliminating a high-volume category of routine legal work and reducing overall inbound contract review requests by more than 15% • Built AI tool to compare third-party supplier codes of conduct against Avalara standards, eliminating the need for legal review of these requests within the Brazil business and improving speed and consistency of compliance assessment • Leading implementation of AI-driven contract review technology in partnership with Legal Operations, with a focus on materially improving turnaround time while maintaining risk disciplineEarlier in my tenure at Avalara, I helped build the company’s global privacy program supporting GDPR and other regulatory frameworks across the U.S, UK, Brazil, and additional regions. That experience informs how I approach legal innovation today: balancing speed, operational efficiency, and thoughtful risk management.I’m known for being pragmatic, fast-moving, and deeply collaborative, the kind of legal partner who doesn’t say “no,” but asks “what’s the goal?” and helps get us there.Focus areas:• AI-enabled legal operations and contract workflows• Global SaaS and tech transactions• Strategic partnerships and channel ecosystems• Enterprise sales and complex deal structuring• Vendor contracting and procurement enablement• Legal team leadership and operational scaling• Cross-border risk management and compliance• Executive advising and stakeholder management

Experience

1. VP & Associate General Counsel - Global Commercial Legal Leader

   Avalara

   May 2025 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Following a legal team reorg, took on an expanded global role leading Avalara’s commercial, partnerships, business development, and procurement legal functions. Oversee legal support for customer- and vendor-facing transactions worldwide, with a strategic focus on enabling enterprise sales, scaling partner ecosystems, and accelerating growth.• Provide legal leadership across SaaS sales, strategic alliances, channel partnerships, product go-to-market, and procurement across North America, LATAM, EMEA, and APAC• Advise on complex enterprise deals, including structure, negotiation, risk, and operational alignment• Lead a global team supporting inbound and outbound commercial and vendor transactions• Negotiate a wide range of agreements, including enterprise SaaS, reseller and OEM, technology partnerships, and vendor contracts• Partner with senior business leaders across Sales, BD, Product, Marketing, Finance, and Procurement to drive business outcomes• Built and scaled contract lifecycle management, legal operations, and enablement processes to support a growing global business• Championed adoption of generative AI across the legal organization, designing and deploying custom GPT tools to scale contract review, reduce turnaround time, and improve consistency• Enabled self-service for low-risk agreements (including hotel and event contracts), eliminating a high-volume category of routine legal work and reducing inbound contract review requests by more than 15%• Built AI tools to compare third-party supplier codes of conduct against Avalara standards, eliminating legal review for these requests within the Brazil business• Leading implementation of AI-driven contract review technology to materially improve turnaround time while maintaining risk disciplineSkills: Enterprise SaaS & Channel Transactions · Strategic Partnerships · Procurement & Vendor Contracting · Legal Ops · Global Commercial Strategy · Cross-Functional Leadership

Education

• Cornell University

  B.A., Psychology

• University of Washington School of Law

  J.D., Law, with Honors

• University of Washington School of Law

  LLM, Taxation