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A customer calls with a question mid-project. Can we share the latest compliance position. What does the contract say about returns. Which liability clause applies. These are the moments where speed matters, because the project keeps moving either way.
At Coulisse, Legal is built to support those moments. The team is led by Nelleke Jans, Teamlead Legal. With a background in corporate and financial law and years of experience advising clients before joining Coulisse in 2021, she now oversees legal and compliance across our international operations.
“Legal should be first and foremost an enabler, not a blocker,” Nelleke explains.
That means taking legal and regulatory complexity and translating it into practical guidance. Clear enough to use. Fast enough to keep the business moving. Consistent enough to trust. When Legal gets this right, it doesn’t slow things down.
Coulisse operates globally across EMEA, the Americas, and APAC, with solutions spanning fabrics, wood, systems, software, aluminum and motors. Growth brings opportunity. It also brings legal complexity that customers feel too.
Even within the EU, national rules can go further than European requirements. In the United States, obligations can differ across all 50 states. And contracts multiply quickly. Coulisse works with 52 different contract types, from NDAs and customer agreements to supplier contracts, distribution agreements, and cooperation models.
Meanwhile, regulations shift fast. Last year alone, we received 212 questions related to EUDR. That level of change creates real pressure on day-to-day decisions. The message is clear. Customers want certainty, and they need it without delay.
To keep legal support fast, consistent, and scalable, the Legal team modernised how contract knowledge is structured and accessed.
That decision was carefully tested. Over five months, Nelleke and Jasmijn Faro demoed 13 different contract management tools. Jasmijn is Legal Counsel at Coulisse, with a strong focus on compliance and sustainability. Summize was selected as the best fit for Coulisse.
From June 2025 to the go-live kick-off in December 2025, the team spent around six months implementing Summize and building the Coulisse setup, including workflows, templates, and the foundations for Ask SIA.
What this changes for customers is simple. Our teams can automatically create standard contract with the right input, and respond to compliance questions faster, with more consistency across regions, and with less back-and-forth. Repetitive work is reduced, decisions can be made sooner and customers receive answers quicker.
In January 2026, teams across the organization were trained. The goal was clear. Make legal answers easier to access, so customers get clarity faster.
A legal and compliance question rarely comes at a quiet moment. It shows up during converstaions, in a customer call, or right before a decision needs to be made. In those moments, the difference between searching and knowing is everything.
With our new way of working, contracts are stored centrally and structured consistently. That makes it easy to find the right clause fast, for example liability terms, without digging through email threads or old versions. It also helps us work in multiple languages, including English, German, and Dutch.
If a question comes in about returns or liability, our teams can now locate the relevant clause immediately and respond with the right wording, without delay.
“By automating standard legal questions, we can respond faster and more consistently,” Jasmijn points out. “That helps our Sales colleagues support customers without unnecessary delays.”
Speed only matters when the standard stays high. Especially in Legal.
“AI supports Legal in specific tasks, but it does not replace legal judgment,” Nelleke stresses.
Outputs are reviewed. Decisions remain human-led. The point is to keep legal support accessible and proactive, while maintaining the same care and quality. The Legal team stays accountable for what we share and how we apply it.
“Innovation only works when you stay critical. Especially in legal work, human expertise and interpretation remain essential,” Jasmijn underlines.
And that is the balance we aim for. Moving faster, without compromising trust.
“AI is not about doing legal work faster. It’s about making it more relevant to the business and our customers. The value lies in using this technology deliberately, with clear ownership and accountability. Legal remains in the driver’s seat at all times” Nelleke concludes.