CCBJ 2023 Winter Edition

Corporate Counsel Business Journal

WINTER EDITION

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 9

Women In Business & Law

CCBJ'S ANNUAL WOMEN IN BUSINESS & LAW SECTION FEATURES THREE GREAT INTERVIEWS AND A SPECIAL SECTION HIGHLIGHTING OUR INAUGURAL 50 WOMEN TO WATCH!

INSIDE

It Takes a Village AI Transforms Legal Service Delivery

Success is No Accident Changes in Legal Operations – A Look Back Over the Last Decade AND MORE!

The participants in the CCBJ Network demonstrate, through their many contributions, their unwavering commitment to the advancement and success of corporate law departments. The engagement and support of these “partners of corporate counsel” assure we continue to develop and distribute the news and information this unique and sophisticated audience relies on to meet the evolving legal and business needs of their organizations.

Strategic Partners

It Takes a Village

 Kevin Berg, General Counsel of Village Roadshow Entertainment shares how connectivity and collaboration across departments, including Legal, has been key to the success of many projects.

CCBJ: To start out, would you talk about what led you to your role with Village Roadshow, as well as a little bit about the organization’s culture?

Kevin Berg: Gladly. From a very young age and on through my college and law school years, I’d always had a love of Hollywood and dreamt of living in Los Angeles and working in “the biz.” So, 25 years ago, after having taken on some positions that weren’t in the entertainment law area, I decided I was going to focus my legal career completely on the entertainment business. I had the good fortune and opportunity to get a contract position with Village Roadshow Pictures, at the time a relatively small independent media and entertainment company that had had just begun a longstanding partnership and co-financing strategy with Warner Brothers and since then we’ve worked together to produce and finance many world-class movies, including the 2019 Oscar® winner Joker, The Matrix trilogy, the Ocean’s series, Mad Max: Fury Road, and a personal favorite, The LEGO Movie.

What attracted me to Village Roadshow in particular was its relatively small size, which I felt would afford me the opportunity to really grow through what I foresaw as likely opportunities and challenges across a few different disciplines in the film and television business.

My prediction has come to fruition. Over the past quarter century I’ve been able to act with all the different aspects of the film and television business, whether it be creative, marketing, distribution or finance teams, or directly with C-suite executives on strategic management. And that

My grandmother imbued in me the importance of knowing what everybody in a business does in order to understand how to run a business.

really speaks to the culture of the company—its emphasis on what all departments, including legal, can do to get us to the point where we’re all working towards a common goal. Open lines of communication play a big part in this process. Right now, we have regular “executive committee” meetings that include all the senior department heads, including legal

and C-Suite executives. The meetings go beyond updates on where things stand as far as deal making or contracts. These meetings also provide an opportunity to have strategic discussions among department heads and really figure out ways to get things done.

Please talk to us about your leadership style and what or who has influenced it.

One of my principal goals is to guide the business and legal affairs team in how best to help our creative and C-suite executives get to “yes” in any deal they want to make. Often members of the legal department are the ones delivering the, “No, you can’t do that.” And telling management and executives what they can’t do— identifying risks and educating the team management as to what risks are—is imperative. But I also feel that Legal should be able to assist management by providing a more comprehensive risk-benefit analysis that includes solutions rather than roadblocks; solutions that help eliminate or mitigate the identified risks and advance toward their business goals. In our environment, having the opportunity to participate in the creative process and my interest in it, has made a big difference.

As far as what has influenced my work ethic and leadership style, I would again have to go all the way back to my youth. My maternal grandmother owned a small diner and I started working there as a preteen. She told me, “Kevin, in the restaurant, when you’re working, I’m not your Grandma, I’m your boss.” And from that point until I went off to college, she had me work at every position in the restaurant—starting at the bottom washing dishes (I had to stand on a milk crate to reach into the sink) before moving on to waiting tables and working the cook line. My grandmother imbued in me the importance of knowing what everybody in a business does in order to understand how to run a business.

Another thing I’m grateful to Grandma for: She didn’t give me my paycheck, she deposited it into a college savings account. Although I was allowed to keep my tip money when I was old enough to start being a server, I stashed that away as well. By the time I graduated from high school, I had enough in my college fund for my flight to California, my housing and books (and, luckily also I got a full-tuition scholarship). Although my family didn’t have a lot of money, I developed early on a sense of financial responsibility, as well as a strong work ethic as I was up every morning at 4 a.m. and didn’t go to bed till 8 p.m. Those types of hours were not unusual to me when I started as a young lawyer and continue today. One other piece of advice that my grandmother gave me—which becomes more real with each passing year—is that age is just a number, you’re only as old as you feel, and if you’re happy, you’ll always feel young. And to that I would add that you need to be happy with the work you’re doing. That’s really important whatever the area of law you’ve chosen to practice in, or however you’ve chosen to apply your legal degree. Your work should bring you some sort of sense of accomplishment and joy.

Others who have influenced me include my current and former CEO, both of whom have impressed upon me the importance of a corporate culture of collaboration and teamwork. Setting and executing company goals is a collaborate effort. And again, that includes the legal team identifying risks, coming up with solutions on how to eliminate and mitigate those risks, and helping create a structure with the appropriate legal guardrails to get the company to a place where it can meet its strategic goals. Also, working in these kinds of environments fostered an ability to apply my myself to things that interested me, even though they might have been outside of my job description. That has had big impact in shaping my career.

What qualities do you look for when you’re building your team?

I’d like to see legal professionals figure out ways to leverage AI to streamline, enhance and improve the legal process.

First and foremost, someone who’s a team player and will fit well within the company culture. I look for someone who’s inquisitive and has strong research and problemsolving skills. What I’m not looking for is someone who will sit with something and attempt to figure it out on their own, and then right before a deadline, says, “I’m not sure what to do here.” I’m looking for someone who can step up but is also not afraid to ask questions of those with more experience. I’m also looking for someone with strong communication skills. I think that’s important given the collaborative nature of the company. Also, someone who has effective time management skills given the number of deadlines that we have. Lastly, someone who’s able to easily adapt. The media landscape is constantly changing so there’s got to be a willingness to adapt and grow and gain new skills.

Talk to us about some rewarding career advice you’ve received along the way.

Whenever possible, you should talk to people in person, and if in-person isn’t possible, then over the phone. It’s important to establish a personal connection with whomever you’re dealing, and to get off electronic communications, like email and text messaging, as much as possible. I’ve found that through email or text, you don’t necessarily build rapport with your colleagues, both internal and external. And often emails can lead to misunderstandings and unintended conflicts where things may drag out, whereas if you just had a conversation faceto-face or over the phone, you could resolve the issue. I find that people often talk past each other over email. That’s the

most influential career advice I’ve gotten. The current CEO, Steve Mosko, has really emphasized the importance of inperson communication and I find that the legal team works more efficiently if there are conversations. So if I see a lot of back and forth via email, I will, as GC, step in and say, “Okay, let’s schedule a meeting. We need to all get in a room, or on a Zoom. I’ve found that’s the quickest way to resolve issues and move forward efficiently.

Another bit of good advice that I’ve received is to stay curious, which I believe is the secret to my longevity at Village Roadshow. The media landscape and the goals of the company have shifted through the years and I’ve had to continuously be open to learning new things, developing new skills and taking on new challenges.

How would you like to see the legal profession evolve going forward?

AI is something that I hear talked about a lot. In my view, there are ways to leverage the evolution of technology in ways that make us all better. I’d like to see legal professionals figure out ways to leverage AI to streamline and enhance and improve the legal process.

I also think it’s important that legal organizations continue to address issues of diversity and inclusion within their ranks. Two years ago, I took on the added role of “director, creative diversity and inclusion” at Village Roadshow.

I also think the profession should find more ways to make legal services more accessible and affordable to underserved communities as well as the general public. Just from talking with friends and family, I’ve found that a lot of people have many basic legal questions and don’t know where to turn for answers. There needs to be a centralized service where someone could go or some other way to make legal advice and services more widely available.

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Front

In-House Collaboration

A Good News, Bad News Story

According to a survey by the Association of Corporate Counsel and Everlaw of 373 in-house legal professionals in the U.S., effective collaboration in the workplace is an imperative. As in so many cases, technology is pushing the envelope. In-house law departments can work and connect from anywhere, which raises a good news – bad news dynamic and new challenges. “Increasing business complexity is also leading to a wider range of business units now being potential sources of risk for companies, resulting in a greater volume of legal work and a broader set of legal challenges,” according to the ACC collaboration survey. “The results reveal that although legal staff desire greater collaboration and there is a clear recognition of the benefits of doing so, there are impediments preventing legal teams from realizing that full potential.” Among ACC’s key findings:

SHO R T TA K E S

Delete Act Raises Stakes for Data Brokers

In this piece from Bloomberg Law, Christine Lyon and Jackson Myers of Freshfields analyze California’s new Delete Act and how it could affect state residents’ personal data. The California Consumer Privacy Act broke new ground in the U.S. by giving broad rights to California residents, including the right to request deletion of their personal information. Senate Bill 362, the Delete Act, makes it even easier for California residents to exercise their deletion rights with companies deemed to be “data brokers.” The new law ladles new privacy safeguards atop California’s existing data broker law by allowing state residents to request deletion of their personal information by a single click of a button – imposing substantial new obligations on data brokers, including extensive disclosures of their practices, ongoing deletion of data, and thirdparty audits. Lyon and Myers say this is a major step in California’s regulation of the data sharing economy. Beyond providing the accessible deletion mechanism, the law will shine a light on the practices of data brokers by requiring them to disclose whether they engage in certain sensitive privacy-related practices, and to report statistics about how well and promptly they honor CCPA requests. This information now will be going directly to the CPPA, the agency that was purpose-built to enforce the CCPA, and now the Delete Act. This further raises the stakes for companies that fall within the broad sweep of data brokers under the new law.

Source: Bloomberg Law

Hybrid Work Takes Hard Work

In this survey, executives from 50 companies told McKinsey that most firms have barely scratched the surface of hybrid work. “We have observed that relatively few companies have aggressively addressed the full spectrum of capabilities that would create a best-in-class workplace experience, which we find surprising given the ample potential benefits. For some, long-standing perceptions—including the notion that more days in the office is the measure of success—may stand in the way of meaningful change. For others, it may be that defaulting to old norms is easier than rethinking new ways of working. Companies may find that implementing magnetic and inclusive environments requires significant financial and leadership resources. Despite how difficult it can be to focus on the 12 practices described in the survey, we believe that the upsides, which include potential real estate savings and improved employee satisfaction and performance, are worth the effort, according to Phil Kirschner and Adrian Kwok, associate McKinsey partners, and Julia McClatchy, a McKinsey partner in the Philadelphia office.

Source: McKinsey & Co.

Briefly

Weil Helps Earn Global Regulatory Approval for Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Clifford Chance hires partners Craig Nethercott and Chirag Sanghrajka in further expansion of global Energy and Infrastructure practice

Connor Crews Rejoins McGuireWoods’ Public Finance Practice in Raleigh

OpenText Introduces New Unified Global Partner Network

Thomson Reuters unveils ONESOURCE E-Invoicing for multinational businesses

Kelly Batts Named New Chief Diversity Officer at Cooley

Kelley Bledsoe Joins Clifford Chance in Washington, DC

Patricia J. Walsh Appointed Executive Vice President and General Counsel at AIG

Mitratech Unveils PlatoBI: Holistic Analytics Platform in Partnership with Snowflake and AWS

Clifford Chance hires partner Jason C. Ewart, growing US leveraged finance and capital markets capabilities

CobbleStone Software Releases CLM Glossary For Legal Professionals

Exterro Revolutionizes Forensic Investigations with the Launch of FTK 8.0

Irina Tsveklova Bolsters Houston Expansion with Weil

Barnes & Thornburg Adds Environmental Partner Scott Watson In Grand Rapids

Required Reading

Too busy to read it all? Try these books, blogs, webcasts, websites and other info resources curated by CCBJ especially for corporate counsel and legal ops professionals.

BLOG: 10 Things You Need to Know as In-house Counsel

In his latest 10 Things post, Sterling Miller tackles a hard topic: hard conversations. Most of us avoid unpleasant discussions because we don’t want to be the bad guy. “For in-house lawyers, it’s an even more arduous chore because – while lawyers are usually great when arguing for a client or for a client’s position – we are the worst at having discussions involving ourselves.” Miller offer nine bits of advice followed by a short list of useful resources from sources such as Harvard Business Review (“How to Handle Difficult Conversations at Work”). Here’s a sample of his advice: Don’t avoid it. (“Clearing the air needs to happen sooner rather than later because there is a cost to inaction, usually in the form of your unhappiness at work, low morale among the team, or a toxic work environment that may lead to regrettable attrition – good people heading out the door, leaving you with the ‘problem’ that you should have dealt with much sooner.” Use active listening. (“Active listening, compassion, and empathy are incredibly valuable tools when dealing with other people, especially when there is friction or problems.” Reframe it. “One trick I learned early as I was failing and flailing in my early efforts at having hard conversations was to flip the problem on its head. That is, instead of dreading the conversation as something negative, get excited about resolving the problem.”) Read more at Miller’s blog.

PUBLICATION: MIT Technology Review

In this piece, Open AI’s co-founder and chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, opens up to MIT Technology Review about what the company is doing to keep artificial superintelligence from going rogue. For example, “Sutskever thinks ChatGPT just might be conscious (if you squint). He thinks the world needs to wake up to the true power of the technology his company and others are racing to create. And he thinks some humans will one day choose to merge with machines.” As if that’s not enough to get your head spinning, Sutskever says ChatGPT, which has already rewritten a lot of people’s expectations about what’s coming, is “turning will never happen into will happen faster than you think.” “It’s important to talk about where it’s all headed,” he says, before predicting the development of artificial general intelligence (by which he means machines as smart as humans) as if it were as sure a bet as another iPhone.

“At some point we really will have AGI. Maybe OpenAI will build it. Maybe some other company will build it.” It’s this train of thought, according to MIT Tech, that has led Sutskever to make the biggest shift of his career – setting up a team that will focus on what they call “superalignment.” Check out MIT Technology Review for how humans may merge with AI.

Contributors

Thanks to the law firms, technology companies, alternative legal service providers, management consultants and other supporters of corporate law departments who share their insights and expertise through the CCBJ network. Your participation is appreciated.

Kevin P. Berg is General Counsel and Director, Creative Diversity and Inclusion at Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. Berg has been with Village Roadshow Entertainment Group since the establishment of the company’s Los Angeles office in 1998. Before joining Village Roadshow, Berg served as a legal consultant for the American Film Marketing Association and a paralegal at the firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. He is a graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law and the University of Southern California, where he earned a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism.

Catherine J. Moynihan is Senior Director, Strategic Intelligence and Advisory for Epiq’s Legal Business Advisory Group, overseeing Hyperion Research, Epiq’s legal market intelligence program, and spearheading legal advisory intelligence programs for global legal executives focused on legal operations transformation.

Kimberly “Kim” Drake-Loy is the Chief Legal and Risk Officer for Shermco Industries, the largest and fastest growing electrical testing and commissioning company in North America. As a key member of the Shermco executive leadership team, Kim provides legal counsel and compliance oversight for all business units and support groups. Kim has over twenty-four years of experience in various industries.

Pascale Pageau founded Delegatus – Lawyers Collective in 2005 in Montreal and remains CEO to this day. With its entrepreneurial and agile approach, Delegatus Lawyers Collective challenges the status quo by practising law better and putting humans and collaboration first for the benefit of the business client, the lawyer and the community. With nearly 50 legal entrepreneurs, the Collectif is considered a pioneer and leader of NewLaw in Quebec.

Megan Fouty has a wide variety of in-house legal experience ranging from Fortune 500 international companies, to national finance organizations, to fast-paced tech start-ups. She has led best in class legal teams and has been recognized for her leadership in the legal community by SimpleLegal, Leaders in Tech, and Women, Influence & Power in Law. She loves to bring legal to the table to partner with stakeholders to find business solutions.

Andy Teichholz is a Global Industry Strategist, Compliance & Legal for OpenText. He is an experienced SME with extensive background as a litigator, in-house counsel, services consultant, and technology provider. He has supported business development and GTM marketing strategies to improve brand awareness and convert sales opportunities for software deployment and professional services engagements.

Epiq Announces New AI Capabilities and Legal Intelligence for Law Firms and Corporate Legal Teams

Technology Veteran James Schellhase Appointed New CEO of UnitedLex

Rachel Proffitt to Succeed Joe Conroy as Cooley’s Next CEO

Barnes & Thornburg Attains Victory In Delaware Supreme Court On Behalf Of Firm Client Guaranteed Rate

AAA-ICDR® Launches New Suite of Deposition & Hearing Services, Including AIPowered Transcription

Kris Ferranti and Jonathan Newman grow US Real Estate Practice at Clifford Chance

Weil Advises CVC on its Strategic Partnership with Dale Underwriting Partners

McGuireWoods Launches Multidisciplinary DEI Practice Team

Clifford Chance announces arrival of tech partners Vipul Nishawala, Meighan O'Reardon, and James McPhillips in US

McGuireWoods Advises Peregrine Energy Solutions in $700 Million Financing Deal

Weil Advises Mudrick Capital in Financing for Getaround

Construction Law Partner Eric Berg Joins Barnes & Thornburg’s Chicago Office

Cooley Secures Win for Sequenom Board in Securities Class Action

Women in Business & Law

Success

is No Accident

 Hard work, making good networking connections and developing relationships are drivers for career opportunities.

CCBJ: Let’s start with what led you to your current role.

Kim Drake-Loy: First and foremost, success is no accident. Hard work, making good networking connections, and developing relationships have been the drivers of my career opportunities. With my current position, I received a call from a former colleague who told me about a general counsel opportunity at Shermco and asked if I was interested. I told him I was.

At that time, I had been in the mortgage finance real estate world, in some form or fashion, my entire career and it was time to move on to something different. The mortgage career path can be challenging with its peaks and valleys and heavy dependence on interest rates and the broader economy. I was excited about the prospect of working in an

industry that was intertwined with other industries and had a stable client base.

In hindsight, the timing of my career move in 2019 could not have been better orchestrated. Once Covid developed in March 2020, the mortgage industry was besieged with more instability due to the downward economy and foreclosure moratoriums. I remain thankful that I made the leap to work in an industry that had stability during the years of Covid.

What was it like transitioning from a non-industrial to an industrial practice?

Working in the mortgage industry for all those years, I not only developed subject matter expertise but also valuable transferable skills. A contract’s a contract, a lawsuit’s a lawsuit, an insurance claim is an insurance claim. However, use of those transferable skills from a non-industrial to industrial practice has required an entirely different approach and mindset when working through contracts,

claims, etc. Industrial based businesses have very distinct risk profiles. This is because the lives of your operations’ staff are at the other end of the decisions made given the type of work performed.

What changes would you like to see in the legal profession?

Attorneys need to be taught how to interact and convey messages in a business context.

Law school curriculum and law firms need to become more “real-world” business centric. There is nothing more frustrating than receiving a treatise in response to a question that can be answered in a few sentences. Not everything can be answered with a yes or no, but generally issues can be explained succinctly.

Also, business environments tend to move much faster than what attorneys are trained to expect. Legal issues can develop suddenly, and they need to be resolved with the same sense of urgency that the business partners/clients have. It is imperative to work with your business partners/ clients and learn what the business risks and priorities are to resolve matters expeditiously.

Successful attorneys understand these risk profiles and adapt their work to them. There is enormous value to ensure attorneys are trained to effectively communicate and operate within the demands of fast-paced business environments.

You have significant experience with mergers and acquisitions. Can you talk about M&A and investment opportunities in your field?

Our business is growing and with growth comes a need for more workers and a broader geographic footprint. Finding workers with certain skills and abilities can be challenging, as well as entering new geographies. Identifying solutions for these needs likely will involve M&A activity. Ultimately, it can be more expedient to acquire a workforce with the skills sets and the geographic location you need versus pursuing organic growth opportunities. 

Kim Drake-Loy

Kimberly “Kim” Drake-Loy is the Chief Legal and Risk Officer for Shermco Industries, the largest and fastest growing electrical testing and commissioning company in North America. As a key member of the Shermco executive leadership team, Kim provides legal counsel and compliance oversight for all business units and support groups. Kim has over twenty-four years of experience in various industries. Reach her at kdrake-loy@shermco.com .

Being a Lawyer is Never a

Nine to Five Job

 The new law doctrine is a method for questioning the ways of the past to better shape the practice of law in the future.

CCBJ: Let’s start off with your background and what led you to launch Delegatus.

Pascale Pageau: Of course. I was an excellent law student and my high grades gained me entry to a top-tier law firm in Montreal. I embraced my first five to seven years of practice as a junior lawyer—working more than 2,000 hours per year and enjoying the process along the way. I was stimulated by the fast pace and was lucky to have great mentors and colleagues from whom I learned a lot.

Although I attempted to live by the maxim, “work hard, play hard,” my career-related goals definitely took priority over personal enjoyment. At some point I realized that as much as I was happy with where I was professionally, my job was taking up too much of my life. I had no time to traveI abroad, which was always a dream growing up. And I didn’t have much time to pursue other interests.

I also had always wanted to have a big family, and when I had my second child, I took some time off to reflect on my life and work experience to date. I was struck by the realization that as much as I enjoyed working hard, I also had a sense of emptiness. I still wanted to be a lawyer, work in a big law firm and have great colleagues and mentors. But I didn’t want my work to be all-consuming. I wanted to have more time for my non-work passions—my kids, hobbies, travel and the like.

So I start to wonder about a business model for a law firm that would allow me to work at a high level, but also leave time for family, friends and interests; where there would be ample opportunities to work hard without hindering my capacity to play hard.

Please talk to us about the “new law doctrine” and what that means.

The new law doctrine, which is gaining increasing currency throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, is a method for questioning the ways of the past to better shape the practice of law in the future. And not just a better way to practice, but also a better way to serve the purposes of law. The new law doctrine is the name given to all the actions taken around in the world to create a modern way to practice and effectuate the law’s purposes.

For some, it’s to create technology or AI. For others it’s to create a new business model that prioritizes a healthy worklife balance. Both want to improve, in all ways possible, the way clients are served and the way lawyers are serving the legal system.

You’ve said that being a lawyer is never a nine-to-five role and that attorneys are inherently entrepreneurs and business executives. Can you expand on that?

Being a lawyer is the furthest possible thing from a nine-tofive job. First of all, being a lawyer is a liberal profession— an occupation requiring substantial mastery of complex skills in the liberal arts pursued in relation to an ideal of public service. We develop knowledge and expertise, and our knowledge and experience are our greatest assets. And we sell time. By selling our time and knowledge, we are, inevitably, entrepreneurial. And we learn through the traditional businesses model that we drive revenue and increase profits by creating a structure and selling time of other people. That’s why, at the traditional law firm, they have junior lawyers working for the mid-levels and seniors. It’s so they become entrepreneurs and, through the duality of law firm partnership and traditional business structure, business executives.

However at Delegatus we believe that being an entrepreneur

within such a traditional model is not always that rewarding. The traditional partnership business structure used by most U.S. law firms, with its strict rules of devotion and billable targets, billable targets of clientele and so on, simply does not allow the entrepreneur the luxury of time. You’re stuck in a golden cage when what you yearn for his freedom and time. At Delegatus we want lawyers to embrace their status as entrepreneur by giving them a choice of how they want to weigh their life, their success and their revenue. We’re still in a “liberal profession,” but we also want to embrace the “entrepreneur” inherent in every lawyer by allowing each individual to measure their success in their own way and by remembering that you can choose to be happy in life and to spend time the way you want to.

For many years prior to the pandemic your organization leveraged technology to facilitate remote work. Could you kindly share some of the thinking behind that and how your clients acclimated to the process?

Delegatus started in 2005—way before the pandemic —but we foresaw two things. First, that we can take our computers everywhere and, as such, can work from wherever we want. Besides going to court, almost everything can be handled via electronic files. Working from the office, whether you viewed it as a luxury or a burden, was no longer a necessity, and that was a major breakthrough.

So when I was creating or mapping Delegatus, because I was starting from a white page, I consulted with business owners and chief legal officers in companies what they would change about law firms if they had the power to reshape them. Their answers gave me a lot of insights, because it was clear that, above all, they want lawyers to have a better understanding of their business. One told me in blunt terms what he thought about having to drive downtown, find parking and waste his time waiting in a luxury lobby to be seen by an attorney for which he is paying as much as $800 an hour.

I realized that having a luxury lobby gave no added value to the client (or future clients) and worse than that, clients know they’re paying for it. Our clients have never been interested in where I was working for them, just in our getting the job done well and timely. They wanted efficiency at a reasonable cost. And by reducing our overhead, we have been able to get better pricing for the client, and more in our lawyers’ own pockets. It’s really worked well because it’s a win-win. So when you look at why big law firms spend so much on their offices, know one thing: It’s not for the client because they receive no added value.

The Delegatus business model is built around three main pillars: people, structure and client service experience. Would you elaborate on that and the benefits to your clients?

As to the people pillar, we are a strong advocate of human and collaborative culture. I personally believe that we live better in a world where there are fewer big egos and no status hierarchy. Whether one is a senior lawyer, a junior lawyer, a paralegal or an administrative assistant, we need each other and we’re all equal. For me, respect and consideration means putting the human being at the center of priorities for collective performance. It’s axiomatic that a law firm should put the client first, but we go beyond that to include our lawyers and staff. This has helped to create a happy and productive synergy from which the client benefits. So creating a way in which not only the client, but everybody, is happy has proved to be both successful and sustainable. So reshaping the culture to put all people first, not only the client, benefits the client in the end.

But structure is also one of our main pillars and we are a strong advocate for reshaping the legal fee structure. As I mentioned earlier, the client benefits from lawyers who take the time to better understand their company, which

The new law doctrine is the name given to all the actions taken around in the world to create a modern way to practice and effectuate the law’s purposes.

includes their costs and cost-sensitivity. We studied the business model of the traditional law firm and concluded that structuring a lean business model is in clients’ interest. But it’s also allowed us to pay our lawyers more, thus attracting better people, which is also in clients’ interest.

Onto our third pillar, the client service experience. Over the past 18 years, our business model has been to welcome into our collective only lawyers that had a minimum of five years’ experience acquires either at a major law firm or major company. And today the average of our near 50 lawyers is 20 years of experience. Consequently, those lawyers provide a high level of expertise and clients are not paying double-teaming, steep learning curves and the like. By giving clients lawyers with a high level of expertise, they get much, much more and pay much, much less. One additional point: In bringing on new talent, we also put a high value on lawyers who worked as in-house— or outside—general counsel because they have field experience and concrete solution to bring to clients.

Overall, we think that by reshaping the law firm to focus on people, on structure and the client experience is the “modern” way for clients to get better services, but also for lawyers to better practice law. By helping lawyers to become successful and happy helps their client to be successful and happy. Our embrace of this new way of practice gives consideration to all the takers in the industry, and is why it’s really important for us to advocate the new law doctrine that is reshaping and improving the practice law. 

Pascale Pageau

Pascale Pageau founded Delegatus –Lawyers Collective in 2005 in Montreal and remains CEO to this day. With its entrepreneurial and agile approach, Delegatus Lawyers Collective challenges the status quo by practising law better and putting humans and collaboration first for the benefit of the business client, the lawyer and the community. With nearly 50 legal entrepreneurs, the Collectif is considered a pioneer and leader of NewLaw in Quebec. Reach her at ppageau@delegatus.ca .

Moving with Megan Fouty In-House

 Don’t count yourself out of an opportunity based on risks or worries that are not yet a reality.

CCBJ: Megan, talk to us about what led you to Glowforge.

Megan Fouty: I started my career at a law firm, where I did defense side employment law. I knew pretty early on that I wanted to move in-house. I liked the business side of things. I liked strategy, and I liked having a specific client or company to get intricately involved with, so I made that a goal. I graduated from law school in 2009 at the height of a recession, and all my law school friends were getting either laid off or having their OCI jobs revoked and going back to non-legal jobs. Everybody thought my plan to go in-house one year out of law school—and at a time when most people just wanted any legal job—was certain to fail, but I went ahead and started networking, which had always played a large part in advancing my career and shaping my general professional and personal life. I even published a book about it last year, The Art of Networking.

I met with hundreds of attorneys from all over the state (facilitated by the fact that I had just gotten laid off, thanks to being the most junior attorney at my law firm). I told everyone about my goal to move in-house. One of my interactions was with the mother of a little boy to whom I gave private swimming lessons. She was a partner at a major law firm I told her what I was looking to do. She introduced me to a friend who worked at a Fortune Global 500 company and, long story short, I got an in-house job there, doing international employment law and then immigration. Five or six years in, I took a step back—I wanted to be intentional around my career—and asked myself, “Do I want to stay in employment law, or do I want to shoot for general counsel?”

The answer came back “general counsel,” but I would need to broaden my résumé and get some other experiences under my belt. I went back to my network, meeting with people and explaining that I wanted to broaden my expertise to include drafting and negotiating commercial agreements,

and to get into some other, more generalized areas of law. Through a contact, I was introduced to the assistant general counsel at Moss Adams, a large national finance company. The company was looking for an experienced commercial negotiator, which was not me but, undeterred, I met with her and we got along well. I'm sure as a favor to the person who introduced me, this assistant GC introduced me to the GC, who brought me in for an interview.

I will never forget that interview. The GC leaned back in his chair, stared at me intensely and said, “If you were me, what would you be worried about?” I said, “Maybe that I don’t know commercial contracts.” He said, “Okay, what do you say to that?” And I said, “Well, I’ve been working in-house now for many years. I’ve hired people and what I’ve come to realize and believe is that you can teach the right person anything, but there are many things you can’t teach—and I have those in spades. I am a strong leader. I am a strong communicator. I understand business. I know how to get alignment among business folks. I have a strong work ethic. And I get up to speed quickly. But you’re going to have to teach me contracts. But the things that I have, you’re not going to have to teach me. And I don’t believe you can teach people those things.”

He hired me and I stayed there for a few years, negotiating a majority of their agreements. Then one day a mentor of mine who had become the GC of a tech startup in Seattle called me up and said, “Come be my number two and help me build a legal team.” I was pregnant with my first child and said, “I don’t know if it’s a good time. I have this job. It’s a good job. I don’t know if I want to make a leap. I don’t know if I am cut out for startup life right now. I don’t know if I want to take more of a risk. It sounds like a lot of work. I haven’t built any credibility there. I’m about to start a family. I don't know how my priorities and my goals are going to change.”

She said, “Just come interview.” The interviews went well, and as I was considering the job offer, one of my mentors gave me an amazing piece of advice. “Of all the things you listed—What if my priorities change? What if I’m sick while I’m pregnant? Can I build up credibility? What if I don’t like startup life? What if this risk is too much?— none have happened yet. You are not sick, your priorities have not

changed, etc. So don’t count yourself out of an opportunity based on risks or worries that are not yet a reality. If they become a reality, then you figure out what you want to do based on the facts in front of you, but don't lean out based on a bunch of what-ifs.”

I took the job and made the leap. I helped build a legal team from scratch. And that tech startup hypergrew. We grew from 100 employees to 1,000 employees in a year. We did several fundraising rounds. We got GeekWire’s Startup of the Year, Tech Titan of the Year and Deal of the Year. We opened up offices across the country. We did a ton of work and built out the legal function. Then the GC, my mentor, moved on to a different company and I took over the legal team. I was happy with the team, and was thinking about having a second child when I got a call from a recruiter I know who said, “There is a job at Glowforge.” We talked about it and I said that while I was interested to hear more, I didn’t think it was a good time to make a move. Her response: “Just come talk to the CEO.”

I did and, long story short, I took the job. I was their first in-house counsel and built a team from scratch. I was

attracted to so much about the company. They say that once you’ve served as a GC, you’re interviewing the CEO and the executive team as much as you’re reviewing the company and as much as they’re interviewing you—and I fell in love with the executive team. They were incredibly talented (and I daresay brilliant) people, more than half of whom were women and or underrepresented. The culture at that company was all I could have asked for.

I always tell people when you’re looking in-house — you have to look at how the company treats legal as a function, which is one of three ways. The first approach is legal is a necessary evil because the company has gotten to a stage where it feels it needs a legal department, but your legal work is met with resistance or departments come to legal only when something terrible happens. Legal is constantly battling to get their voices heard, and their advice is usually disregarded.

The second way is where legal is there to serve specific operational jobs. They’re there to negotiate mergers and acquisitions, to handle litigation, to negotiate contracts, etc. They’re paid well and are treated with great respect and even friendliness. And they stay in their legal specific swim lane.

The third way is where legal is treated as a strategic business partner. They’re at the table for all the major conversations and not just for pure legal advice, but also for strategy, proactive thinking and problem-solving. The CEO treats the general counsel like the CFO, the CTO or any of the other executives. The General Counsel’s business acumen is sought out and appreciated. That is how the Glowforge CEO treats legal. I don’t know that I would ever go to another company where that is not how legal is viewed; where legal is not at the table among all the other executives when strategic conversations around the direction of the business are being held. That is what sold me on Glowforge in addition to being impressed by the executive team and the culture.

I also recognize some people don’t have the privilege of being super picky or deciding selectively where they go, ;sometimes you just need a job, sometimes or you just want your first in-house job, —but if you have an opportunity and you're looking in-house, considering the approach to the legal function will greatly help you select the culture or job experience you may have.

Talk to us about the qualities you look for when you’re bringing people onto your team.

When I’m hiring new people, it’s not all about the résumé, because at a startup there is no way to come fully prepared. You are thrown all sorts of curveballs. You have all sorts of things that nobody understands how to do, and you need a team that can figure it out. What I look for is a work ethic. I look for grit, resilience, a sense of urgency and for someone who is flexible and scrappy. I look for someone who I can literally hand a head-scratching conundrum and they won’t get flustered and say, “I’ve never done that before,” or “Do you have a template?” I’m looking for someone who will say, “Let me go figure it out.”

My ideal hire will use their business savvy, their intelligence and their legal knowledge to figure out a path forward. They will come up with different kinds of solutions and proposed actions. They need to show attention to detail, to move quickly, to not become anxious by a change in direction. They should be true generalists and be able to move quickly

and figure anything out. If they come to me and say, “I’ve never done this before,” my response will be, “Me neither. Here's what I would do …” whether it’s reaching out to my network, looking up the statute, combing blog posts from various law firms, calling up the agency in question, whatever it takes to figure out a proposed path forward.

What I look for are the “soft skills” of being able to figure anything out, being able to shift quickly, having a work ethic and sense of urgency, being unflappable, being flexible and adaptable, being able to move quickly but accurately, and being able to communicate well and to get alignment and cross-functional partnership with the business people, because if nobody wants to work with you, your advice is ineffective.

What changes would you like to see within the profession?

A few years ago, as a side hobby, I founded a business called Diversity University, which provides diversity, equity and inclusion tools to companies, organizations and law firms. We do unconscious bias training, diversity project management and listening sessions. We work with executive teams, run workshops and similar things like that. I’ve worked with all sorts of various pieces of the legal profession. Along with networking, it is near and dear to my heart and I’ve been trying to pair the two things —my book, The Art of Networking, and my work at Diversity University—to try to increase awareness among legal professionals as a way of driving changes in the profession, in the community, and at our businesses and companies.

If you’re at a law firm, having a diverse population is better for the clients, with more representation, more innovative ideas and more ability to understand and reach various client groups. If you’re at a company, you can help drive these initiatives forward as well as be part of the change that should happen within the profession and the community. I would love to see the legal profession become far more inclusive and far more aware. For example, there are some pretty antiquated hiring policies and practices, such as only looking for candidates with top brand law

school and law firm experience. You’re going to cut out a whole bunch of incredible talent that way.

Other policies affecting DEI are the way firms handle origination fees or billable hours, parental leave, the handing out of client assignments, and the structuring of diverse teams. Too often, such policies are not well thought out, not sufficiently intentional, resulting in a lack of inclusivity and diversity, and that does a disservice to our profession, our communities, our organizations and the clients we serve. I would love to see more people educate themselves, question the status quo, and be change advocates for a more inclusive and forwardthinking profession.

Things are changing, I am seeing more and more legal professionals take an interest and an intentional role. But slowly.

Being a woman, and being an underrepresented woman, in the tech profession, in the legal profession and at the executive ranks, all three of which tend to be male dominated and white male dominated. I still feel it. I’ve gotten all sorts of advice and seen all sorts of coping mechanisms. I've seen other executive women use masculine names. If their name is Christine, they go by Chris. I've seen them be told, “Don’t be too girly. Don’t be too friendly (if you want to be taken seriously). Don’t use emojis. Don’t say ‘like’. Don’t smile too much. Don’t wear too much makeup. Or women are told to lean into their gender with advice such as, “Make sure you always wear a dress to court. Make sure you put your hair down,” when we should be advising women to just show what they can bring to the table and to join companies and cultures that don’t label assertive women “bossy,” but rather “leadership material.”

We are raising the next generation of women to see themselves as leaders and to know that women, and other underrepresented people, belong at the table where key decisions are made, whether at a law firm partner or in-house. There’s still a tremendous amount of work to do there. 

Megan Fouty

Megan has a wide variety of in-house legal experience ranging from Fortune 500 international companies, to national finance organizations, to fast-paced tech start-ups. She has led best in class legal teams and has been recognized for her leadership in the legal community by SimpleLegal, Leaders in Tech, and Women, Influence & Power in Law. She loves to bring legal to the table to partner with stakeholders to find business solutions. Reach her at megan.fouty@glowforge.com

Women Influencing the Future of Business and Law

Kasia Moore

VP & Deputy General Counsel ADT Inc.

Kasia is currently responsible for the direction and management of ADT Commercial’s legal function. She also advises on strategy and business development opportunities. Kasia has spent more than 15 years advising large public companies in manufacturing, commercial buildings and industrial services, which drives her passion for the advancement of women leaders in historically majority-male sectors. Equally passionate about the development and growth of others, Kasia speaks to groups frequently about effective contract negotiation and has developed a unique framework to help nonlawyers tap into their inherent negotiation skills. Kasia is an executive co-chair of ADT’s Women BERG leading outreach efforts to empower women and girls in ADT’s communities and a mentor and mentee to many. She’s also a wife of the world’s greatest stay-at-home dad, and a mom of two, 9 years and 5 years old.

What is your proudest achievement?

Developing bespoke curriculum for a 4-day Women

In Leadership program to encourage and energize company’s amazing women. (Tied with being a mom of my sweet kids.)

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Your life is with your family. It’s a paraphrase of a few key passages in Tony Morrison’s The New Yorker essay “The Work You Do, The Person You Are” and exemplified by leaders whom I admire.

Ann Staggs

Associate General Counsel - Privacy Airbnb

Ann Staggs, as the Associate General Counsel for Privacy at Airbnb, is an esteemed expert navigating the intricate intersections of international privacy laws and innovative technologies. With over 17 years of comprehensive experience, her portfolio spans a broad array of cuttingedge issues such as privacy compliance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cybersecurity, while also advising U.S. congressional offices on international privacy laws, solidifying her reputation in both private practice and as in-house counsel.

What

is your proudest achievement?

I recently was selected as the recipient for the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California’s trailblazer award. VABANC holds a special place in my heart as an organization that provides a positive impact through pro bono clinics, mentorship of diverse and underprivileged law students, and professional development of lawyers.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Ask yourself why the question is being asked.

What is/are your favorite extracurricular activity/activities?

Snowboarding, traveling, playing volleyball, being a foodie (will travel and wait in long lines for amazing food) and spending time with my family.

Julie Coletti

EVP Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer

Align Technology, Inc.

Julie Coletti is EVP and Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer at Align Technology, an innovative medical technology company, the world’s largest 3-D printing operation and the make of Invisalign clear aligners and other game changing technologies, dedicated to transforming smiles and changing lives. She joined Align in May 2018 and leads Align’s legal, compliance, quality and regulatory functions, is a member of the Align Executive Management team and is a trusted advisor to the CEO, Board of Directors. She drives business focused strategies and outcomes to support rapid growth and geographic expansion. Julie also serves as an independent director on the Board of Directors of Fortis Life Sciences and on the Fortis Board’s Audit and Quality and Compliance Committees. Julie is also a dedicated member of the Board of Directors of the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh.

What is your proudest achievement?

Learning that I have made a meaningful impact when I mentor other women.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received? Love your job.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

The commodity work will be done by AI and the strategic work will be in very high demand.

Ada Okafor General Counsel and Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer American Board of Surgery

Ada Okafor serves as General Counsel and Chief Diversity

Equity and Inclusion Officer for American Board of Surgery. Ada is the first person of color to hold the position and title of General Counsel (GC) in the American Board of Surgery’s 85-year history. As GC, Ada leads the organization’s legal, compliance, ethics and enterprise risk management function. Ada is also the first person to hold the position of Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer (CDEIO). Ada has contributed to a number of diversity efforts throughout her career and believes it helps create an inclusive environment so that people can do their best work and have their individual skills and talents recognized, appreciated and utilized. As ABS’s inaugural CDEIO, Ada is excited to use the skillsets that she has developed and honed over time to help drive ABS’ commitment to be a diverse, antiracist, equitable and inclusive organization.

Michelle R. Dunham Manager & Counsel

American Express

Michelle serves as Manager & Counsel within the General Counsel’s Office of American Express supporting the Accertify, Inc. business unit. Michelle also plays football in the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC). As a seasoned attorney, Michelle has held several senior leadership roles, including Director of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, within publicly traded companies.

As a football player, Michelle serves as a skilled player holding down the position as a wide receiver and corner for intramural and professional football teams. Michelle’s practice of law includes drafting and negotiating strategic global technology and intellectual property hosting agreements; and providing advice on matters such as regulatory compliance, protection of intellectual property, and online fraud risks. Michelle currently serves as the Online Gaming and Sports Betting Subject Matter Expert within her organization and was chosen to partner with business experts to lead the efforts of her organization’s entry into the iGaming and Sports Betting vertical globally.

What is your proudest achievement?

Hosting my inaugural All Girls Sports Camp during spring break week this past summer. There were 60 girls, grades 3-8 that were taught hands on skills by professionals within the industry, they learned life skills and were given an opportunity to be highlighted on the podcast “LADIES BALL TOO!!!” The All Girls Sports Camp will take place each year during spring break week. It is a dream that I have carried for many years and for the very first camp to be so successful was just amazing.

Laura Salvatori General Counsel Anson Funds

Laura Salvatori is General Counsel at Anson Funds, a hedge fund with offices in Toronto and Dallas. Anson has been ranked by BarclaryHedge as Number Four in Top 10 Global long/short hedge funds for three-year compound growth in 2022 and a top equity hedge fund in the Americas in 2021 by Hedgeweek. Laura oversees all legal and litigation aspects relating to the Anson family of hedge funds (multistrategy, multi-asset class onshore and offshore funds), as well as the investment process, deal participation, fund formation and structuring for investment vehicles, GP/LP matters and governance. Laura holds a JD from Osgoode and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Schulich School of Business and is admitted to practice in both New York State and the province of Ontario. Laura was appointed as a member of the NYC Bar’s Securities Regulation Committee in 2022 and has been a member of the Women General Counsel of Canada since 2021.

What is your proudest achievement?

Surviving the first 3 months of motherhood!

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

A good lawyer understands that there may be a distinction between good business advice and good legal advice. A great lawyer knows how to reconcile both.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

Highly influenced and transformed by AI (but not dominated by it).

Mary Ulmer Jones

Senior Vice President/ Associate General Counsel Bank of America

Mary Ulmer Jones is a Senior Vice President/Associate General Counsel with Bank of America. In that role, Mary is responsible for providing legal advice and guidance to a global human resources department that supports over 180,000 employees worldwide. She is recognized as a subject matter expert on matters involving regulatory risks, federal, state and municipal laws and is responsible for giving guidance on strategies that reduce expenses, increase revenue and creates an award-winning environment where employees can bring their whole selves to work. Mary manages a staff of lawyers, paralegals, and business support managers and regularly collaborates with business leaders to advance both internal and external performance strategies and manage reputational, operational and legal risks. Mary also serves in a number of internal leadership roles wherein she provides enterprise level guidance regarding pro bono work, diversity and inclusion, domestic violence and disability advocacy strategies. Mary joined Bank of America in 1991, as an in house labor, employment and litigation legal counsel.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Provide advice in a positive tone and always offer a solution to the problem.

Melanie McGrath is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at CBCL Limited, which is a multi disciplinary engineering and environmental services company operating in 12 offices in 5 provinces. Melanie oversees legal, risk, insurance, contract, and compliance concerns with the firm. Melanie joined CBCL in February 2020 and throughout her career has worked in private practice as well as in house at several different insurance companies.Since joining CBCL, Melanie has been an instrumental part of the firm’s COVID response committee and is a leader of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity work as well the firm’s ESG initiative.

What is your proudest achievement?

CBCL has made immense strides toward a diverse and inclusive workplace, where employees can truly belong, and I have been proud to influence positive change to make us an employer of choice.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

As a young lawyer, I was encouraged to say “yes” to new assignments, no matter the area of law. That advice has served me well over the years, and has allowed me to gain skills and access opportunities that may otherwise have been closed to me. I now feel like I use all of those cumulative skills.

Anything else you would like to share?

Nothing is more satisfying than strategizing the solution to a problem and then seeing it successfully implemented.

Melanie McGrath

General Counsel CBCL Limited

Linda Kinney

Chief Legal Officer, Law & Public Policy Civica LLC

Linda Kinney is a visionary global leader, investor, and trusted advisor to corporate executives and government officials. She has held leadership positions in an earlystage, mid-cap, and multinational corporation with over $70B in annual revenue. Throughout her career, she has been a change-maker, influencing the regulatory environment and accelerating the adoption of new technologies. Currently, Linda is a limited partner in two VC funds. She advises companies on climaterelated matters, including navigating new regulatory requirements, securing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), developing industry coalitions and standards, managing stakeholders, and influencing climate policy. As Head of ESG & Product Regulatory Legal at Intel, Linda led a global team of regulatory lawyers. She served on the Chief Product Sustainability Officer’s leadership team, driving growth related to sustainable procurement and navigating emerging ESG regulation.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Don’t be the person who curses the darkness, be the person who lights the candle.

Name your hometown/where you were born/ where you grew up and where you live now. I grew up in Fullerton, CA, and currently live in Redwood City, CA.

Michelle Williams Partner

Clifford Chance

Michelle Williams is a member of the Litigation, Regulatory and White Collar practice group at Clifford Chance. Michelle represents U.S. and foreign clients including multinational companies, financial institutions, and other financial service providers in criminal and regulatory enforcement proceedings relating to potential economic sanctions, export control, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering, and advises on compliance with associated regulatory regimes, including data privacy and employee-related matters. Michelle is a member of Clifford Chance’s global People Risk team.

What is your proudest achievement?

It’s hard to choose just one, but I would say going from small town to big law, running a 1/2 marathon, and being a mom.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Don’t take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

Continued greater reliance on technology to free up lawyers to do more value-added tasks.

Cornerstone Research

Yesim Richardson is the president of Cornerstone Research. Yesim specializes in applying economic and financial analysis to complex litigation involving securities, financial institutions, valuation, and real estate. She has worked with clients in various financial sectors as well as other industries, such as energy, telecommunications, high tech, and pharmaceuticals. She serves on Cornerstone Research’s board of directors, is chair of the firm’s DEI Council, and formerly led the financial institutions practice. Before joining Cornerstone Research, Yesim taught economics at Boston University and at Bilkent University in Turkey. She holds a B.A. from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest recent achievement is helping our firm navigate the pandemic, including developing a hybrid policy with input from constituencies across our firm. This policy balances the benefits of increased flexibility with the important role that in-person mentoring and connections among our people play in providing best-inclass service to our clients.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

When I was a little girl, my father wrote a brief note in my diary: “To be happy, make others happy.” I did not understand what he meant then, but I was intrigued. I returned to the note occasionally and finally understood it when I got older.

Deanna Reitman

Counsel, Finance, Energy & Commodities Practice

DLA Piper

Deanna Reitman has more than 20 years of experience working in commodity markets and more than 18 years of senior management experience. Her background encompasses legal, regulatory and business experience in commodities, with a particular focus on energy. She has extensive global energy commodity legal and regulatory experience. Deanna is a skilled communicator and team manager with a record of success in achieving complicated objectives. Her core competency is in legal and regulatory global commodity marketing and trading, in both physical and financial markets. At DLA Piper, Deanna draws upon her experience as an in-house counsel for energy commodities marketing and trading firms to advise on the structuring of transactions and provide regulatory and commercial advice to energy clients.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest achievement is my family. I love how we love one another, support each other and keep each other honest. I could not be prouder of my husband and my sons.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

The most influential piece of advice I received is “No matter how daunting the “to do” list, it all gets done, as long as you do each task one at a time and never give up.” Essentially, the advice from Dory holds true “just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…”

Yesim Richardson President

Of

Kate Dugan General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

Energizer Holdings

Kate leads the company’s Legal, Regulatory and Government Affairs function, and serves as the primary legal advisor for Energizer globally and Corporate Secretary to Energizer’s Board of Directors. Since joining Energizer in 2014, Kate has held various leadership roles in the organization. Previously, Kate was a litigator with Greenberg Traurig in Chicago; Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City, Missouri; and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in St. Louis. Kate holds a Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia.

What is your proudest achievement?

I am probably proudest (professionally) of my work on a pro bono death penalty retrial team during my very early days of practice. In addition to key technical skills, I learned so many important personal lessons working on that case including humility and fortitude.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

I’ve had many incredible mentors and sponsors who have all offered essential guidance and advice, but the quote that comes back to me almost daily is - “Do what you can with the time that you have.”

What is one thing people should know about you but don’t?

There’s not a single food I won’t try once. Exploring the food of other cultures is something I love to do, especially when traveling.

Audrey Taranto General Counsel

Enstar Group Limited

Audrey Bowen Taranto is a dynamic public company General Counsel and valued Executive Team member at Enstar Group Limited, a multifaceted insurance group offering innovative capital release solutions across Bermuda, the U.S., the U.K., Continental Europe, and Australia. Appointed as Enstar’s first-ever General Counsel in 2019, Taranto previously served as Group Head of Legal from 2017 and prior to that as SVP, Securities Counsel. She began as a Corporate Associate at Drinker Biddle & Reath and later served as Senior Counsel at Cigna Corporation. anto prides herself as a team-oriented, solutions-focused problem solver who builds collaborative and positive working relationships through the organization. She drives and champions transformational change by identifying need, securing buy-in, and creating solutions to achieve continuous improvement.

What is your proudest achievement?

Becoming a parent and continuing to pursue an exciting and rewarding career while raising a family.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

To apply the “comparison is the thief of joy” concept. To focus on paving the way in your career authentically rather than compare yourself to others and their paths.

What is/are your favorite extracurricular activity/activities?

Watching my two children play sports.

Alison Wisniewski

Chief Legal Officer & Secretary Epiq

Alison Wisniewski is chief legal officer and secretary for Epiq. Wisniewski has more than a decade of experience in the legal profession. Wisniewski manages general matters including mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance, sales transactions, commercial transactions, data privacy, compliance, risk management, intellectual property, and transactional employment matters. Wisniewski also is the executive sponsor of Epiq’s DEI Program and ESG/CSR Program. Prior to Epiq, Wisniewski practiced in-house at an asset management company, where she assisted the FDIC in the dissolution of various banks throughout the country. Wisniewski has also practiced at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP and Sidley Austin LLP representing corporate and private equity clients in various matters including mergers & acquisitions, securities filings, and corporate governance.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest career achievement is becoming the chief legal officer of Epiq, having worked my way from legal counsel to the position, and doing so early on in my career. In addition to legal, I have responsibility for compliance and DEI, two areas I never thought I would learn about or have expertise in. My proudest personal achievement is my children, Mason (11) and Addie (7). I am sure every parent says this about their kids, but mine are smart, kind and compassionate. I don’t know what my life would be without them.

Anything else you would like to share?

I studied theater at Northwestern. And while I no longer pursue acting as a career, I love singing.gh demand.

Mine Ekim Managing Director, Legal & Compliance Golden Gate Global

With a top-tier law firm and in-house background, Mine offers business-driven counsel, adeptly managing complex transactions and stakeholder relationships, navigating regulatory approvals, and driving cross-functional execution. With multiple years of global experience in finance, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, crossborder transactions, and corporate governance, Mine has specialized in technology, media, telecommunications, finance, real estate, energy, and infrastructure sectors. Having lived, studied, and worked on three continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), I bring a diverse and international perspective to my work. Mine is a strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion and actively contributes to various associations, including TechGC, Women’s General Counsel Network, How Women Lead, Invest In the USA (Public Policy Committee and Leadership Circle), and European Law Institute.

What is your proudest achievement?

My latest proudest achievement was fundraising with my brother, a London-based attorney, for donation campaigns such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF). These campaigns were dedicated to supporting the recovery and relief efforts after the destructive earthquakes that struck the southeastern part of Turkey, affecting at least 10 cities in February 2023.

Abby Risner Officer

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale

Abby Risner’s extensive trial experience nationwide on behalf of companies gives her a keen understanding of what it takes to efficiently and effectively handle complex disputes. In her complex commercial litigation and class action practice, she defends energy companies, franchisors, manufacturers and distributors against claims related to consumer fraud, advertising, franchise termination, unfair business practices, contract disputes and other matters. Abby has tried cases to verdict and has experience in every phase of litigation, including as first chair in court and arbitration.

Abby is the leader of Greensfelder’s Energy Industry Group and routinely represents clients in petroleum marketing disputes, and advises on business issues associated with the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (PMPA), retail motor fuel marketing, including pricing, contracts, antitrust, and termination issues. She has defended claims against oil companies related to termination under the PMPA and franchise laws, breach of contract and fraud claims, alleged unlawful motor fuel pricing practices, deed restrictions, and consumer protection claims. Her knowledge of the energy sector and the trial process has made her an important resource for the global companies she represents.

During law school, Abby was a student extern in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Debra Rozier CEO & Founder Inovitech

Debra Rozier is CEO & Founder of Inovitech. Ms. Rozier has been in the eDiscovery Technology profession for more than 25 years. She has a unique vantage point that comes from three distinct areas of work experience: corporate law, law firm, and eDiscovery service provider. Ms. Rozier’s collective experience naturally progressed into a fourth distinction; establishing the launch of a pure eDiscovery technology company. Prior to founding Inovitech, Ms. Rozier held several executive level positions. Her professional experience has cultivated product innovation and strategic solutions that reduced costs and measured continuous process improvement. She has an instinctive, dynamic, entrepreneurial spirit, and it is through those years of experience, building workflow process, innovating products, and services, that gave her the confidence to venture into entrepreneurship.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest achievement is simultaneously building a company and product to launch to the market. The sanctity of running your own business is for sure challenging, but having the ability to create an environment where you can ‘thrive’ is soul fulfilling.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

I have met several folks along the way that inspired me to take advantage of opportunities. Learn as much as you can while working through these opportunities. Step forward with confidence, grit, consistency, and experience. Open doors for others that need opportunities as well.

Karisma Hotels & Resorts

In her role as president, Kimberly Taylor oversees JAMS’ operations in the United States and abroad. Working directly with the CEO, Taylor is responsible for the company’s overall operations, with oversight of business functions, including panel relations, marketing and practice development, Resolution Center operations and human resources. She also provides operational and strategic leadership for international expansion efforts and works closely with the CEO and CFO to handle the implementation of policies and strategy. Taylor has been a key contributor to JAMS since she joined the organization in 1999.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest professional achievement is becoming a lawyer. I did not grow up in a family that valued education and was actually discouraged from pursuing higher education by people in my life. Eventually, I attended law school at night while working full time and graduated at the top of my class, overcoming a number of personal obstacles along the way. The day I was sworn in as a lawyer marked a significant shift in the trajectory of my life, all for the better. This led to a career in ADR at JAMS, which also led to a move cross-country, which led me to my husband and beautiful step-children. The life we’ve created and lived together is my proudest personal achievement.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Always take the high road. No matter how hard it may be, or how many roadblocks are on that path, you will never look back and regret your decisions. Despite its hardships, taking the high road is worth the view!

Bethania Diaz is a corporate and transactional lawyer with international experience in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years. Diaz practices in statutory audit processes, negotiation, contract management, risk management, legal operations, corporate governance. Diaz is a member of the Legal 500 GC Powerlist: DR 2022 and the Legal Committee of the National Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (ASONAHORES).

What is your proudest achievement?

I would say my proudest achievement is what I have accomplished personally, professionally and/or spiritually that has made me the person I am today.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

I see the legal profession more assisted by artificial intelligence, but hardly replacing human skills and knowledge. It will improve performance and efficiency but depending on the quality data provided and minimization of the ethical challenges such as neutrality required to avoid inaccuracies and lack of transparency, to share a few. I also see the legal profession practiced together with focus and studies in other areas outside of the profession. Nowadays, we can see internal and external clients assuming that lawyers / attorneys have certain knowledge in other areas, such as business, finance, marketing, among others. And that will make it important for the lawyer to be prepared or understand certain areas.

Kimberly Taylor President JAMS

Bethania Diaz Legal Manager

Beth Morahan

EVP & General Counsel, Global Risk Solutions and National Co-Chair of Able@Liberty Liberty Mutual

Beth Morahan is Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Liberty Mutual Group and serves as General Counsel for Liberty’s Global Risk Solutions (GRS) business. In this role, Beth is part of the GRS executive leadership team and leads a team of more than 70 lawyers and paralegals in support of the company’s global commercial insurance business, which includes traditional and specialty lines as well as surety. The GRS Legal team collaborates closely with both business clients and corporate department colleagues on a wide variety of issues, such as product development and implementation, contract review, negotiation and drafting, licensing, privacy, underwriting and rating matters, broker issues, claims matters, insurance regulatory compliance, and M & A. The team strives to proactively engage with the business to help inform its understanding and management of legal risk.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

You can do anything but you can’t do everything - so build strong relationships, learn from others, and find good partners to get things done.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

My hope is that technology takes some of the drudgery out of legal work, leaving more room for creative problem solving.

Erin Komorowski Director of ESG & Sustainability M&T Bank

Erin Komorowski is the Director of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) for M&T Bank, where she leads a dedicated team that develops and implements strategy, initiatives, and reporting for the bank’s corporate sustainability. Erin has focused her career on building new capabilities and strategy for M&T and, in so doing, creating unique opportunities for managing business in a responsible, sustainable way. Prior to M&T, Erin worked at several social service nonprofits, and also spent two years as a volunteer in the US Peace Corps.

What is your proudest achievement?

Outside of my wonderful family my proudest achievement is the Sustainability and ESG program we’ve built in the last several years at M&T. Connecting with our colleagues to positively impact our communities and planet, ensuring a well-governed organization and providing transparency to stakeholders has been an incredible experience.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

That the most important thing you can decide is what you’re going to say “no” to. I come back to that often as Sustainability and ESG has endless risks and opportunities that we evaluate and to be effective we must constantly prioritize the areas with the greatest impact.

What is one thing people should know about you but don’t?

I’m happiest when I’m learning something entirely new to me!

McGuireWoods LLP

Amber Walsh is the former Chairwoman of the firm’s Healthcare Department, one of the largest healthcare practices in the United States. She sits on the firm’s Executive Committee and is Chairwoman of the firm’s Lateral Partner Integration Committee, and is a recognized leader in promoting the advancement of women in the private equity sector. She founded and leads McGuireWoods’ Women in Private Equity & Finance Initiative and sits on the board of The Leverage Network. Focusing her practice on corporate healthcare transactional work and regulatory matters, she represents healthcare providers such as hospitals, health systems, dialysis facilities, multi- and single-specialty medical practices, specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and a variety of healthcare industry entrepreneurs, in sales and acquisitions, joint ventures, general corporate matters, contracting, securities, and regulatory matters.

What is your proudest achievement?

Conceiving of, and launching the Women in Private Equity & Finance Initiative at McGuireWoods is one of the most fun and rewarding - and was initially the most dauntingachievements of my career. Thus far!

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Try new things; stretch yourself. Other people will try to put you in a box where they think you belong professionally, but do not let that happen and certainly don’t do it to yourself.

Jen is a bicoastal employment lawyer who enjoys crafting legal solutions to employment challenges. Her clients include businesses and executives in technology, financial services, publishing, retail, professional services, and health care. Her law practice focuses not just on pragmatic problem-solving, but also trial work, with a focus on class actions, trade secrets and employment mobility disputes. Jen recently served on the Mintz Policy (Executive) Committee and she Co-Chairs the firm’s ESG Practice Group, which leverages her experience advising corporate boards on social and governance issues. Jen is a Chambers-ranked attorney with an AV Preeminent ranking from Martindale-Hubbell; she is also recognized in the Legal 500. What Jen enjoys most is using her legal talents to serve her community. She has been a long-time faculty member and advisor to The Honor Foundation, a non-profit organization that assists Navy Seals and other armed services special operators transition from military service to the private sector.

What is your proudest achievement?

Finding a pathway to success that includes personal and professional fulfillment that sets an example I hope is worthy of emulation.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

“You should be a lawyer” (direct quote from my college roommate who said she was never able to win an argument!)

Amber Walsh Partner

Jennifer Rubin Member Mintz

Tapestry ADR (National Arbitration and Mediation)

Marcie Dickson is a leading voice on diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging in alternative dispute resolution. She is the President of Tapestry ADR, a division of National Arbitration and Mediation. At Tapestry ADR, Marcie focuses on developing and promoting a wide range of strategic initiatives, including expansion in key markets, new services, and technology solutions. She also leads efforts to enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging (DEIAB) practices at Tapestry, NAM, and the broader legal community. Before transitioning to NAM, Marcie founded Alterity ADR, a groundbreaking arbitration and mediation firm with a prestigious national roster of arbitrators and mediators and the largest national minority-owned ADR company. Previously, she served as Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer of a large ADR firm, where she helped transform the company into a market leader.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Never apologize to your family for wanting to work, and never apologize at work for being a mother.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

It’s difficult to predict the future of any profession, but based on recent technological advancements, social changes, and industry trends, I think the industry will continue to see significant transformation. From the way we integrate technology, to an emergence of more legal-tech focused companies, we will likely see more of a shift in how we rely on new solutions to solve legal and business problems.

Suzanne Spradley Chief Compliance Officer and Associate General Counsel NFP

Suzanne Spradley drives NFP’s ethical culture and empowers ethical leadership across the organization. Suzanne spearheads NFP’s corporate compliance initiatives, emphasizing NFP’s commitment to legal and regulatory compliance, integrity and business ethics. Her expertise includes legal and regulatory compliance, corporate governance, corporate ethics and legislative affairs. She also represents NFP in interactions with government agencies and is the lead voice in NFP’s corporate compliance communications. Suzanne chairs NFP’s Environmental, Social and Governance Committee. In this role, she leads a diverse and dynamic group of NFP leaders who bring perspective, knowledge and accountability to NFP’s corporate sustainability strategy and activity.

What is your proudest achievement?

On a personal note, it is seeing my quadruplet daughters make good choices during their college years. They are entering their junior year of college and I’m very proud of the women they are becoming. In my corporate life, my proudest achievement is the evolution of our corporate compliance program that demonstrates ethical leadership throughout our organization, enables employees to speak up freely and does not shy away from addressing challenges. I am encouraged by employees reaching out to me directly when they have concerns and want to ensure that our company is doing things the right way.

Marcie Dickson President

Eunice Chiu Partner

Oldham Lie & Nie

Eunice is a partner with OLN’s Dispute Resolution Group. She is qualified to practise in Hong Kong and Canada with extensive experience advising companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, MNCs, local conglomerates, cross-border insolvency practitioners and high net-worth individuals in the areas of insolvency and bankruptcy, complex commercial disputes, shareholders’ litigation, contractual disputes, real estate disputes and estate planning. Born and partly raised in Hong Kong, having spent her formative years and educated in Canada and working as a barrister in Canada and a solicitor in Hong Kong (and to a lesser extent in Shanghai and London), she uses her multicultural background and perspectives as well as her fluent English, Cantonese and Mandarin (French less fluent) to serve her diverse clientele to the best of her ability.

What is your proudest achievement?

Starting from ground zero as a lawyer in 2014 after a hiatus of a few years and making partner in 5 years despite cultural adjustments and society being sometimes less than forgiving with mature lawyers starting from scratch.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Clear goals are not always the answer. Go with your intuition, work as hard as you can and never look back. Before you know it, the journey which may have started off without perfect clarity will have taken you to exactly where you wish to be.

Tiffany Archer

Global Head of Compliance, Risk and Privacy Pall Corporation

Tiffany Archer is the Global Head of Compliance, Risk and Privacy for Pall Corporation (a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation). In this role, she oversees Pall’s global compliance program, and advises on the areas of ethics and compliance, anti-bribery and corruption, regulatory risk, data privacy, cross-border internal investigations, and reputational risk management. Additional areas of oversight include anti-money laundering compliance, global trade compliance and financial crimes. With nearly 20 years of experience across financial institutions, leading global law firms and Fortune 500 companies, her roles have spanned the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe and Middle East regions.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest achievement to date is becoming an Adjunct Law Professor at Fordham University School of Law. While guiding my students through complex case studies, lively debates, and interactive simulations, I’ve strived to impart not only legal knowledge but also critical thinking skills, ethical considerations, and a global perspective on compliance.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received? Don’t ever forget to send the elevator back down to ensure that others have the opportunity to rise.

Lisa Wolmart

Chief Legal Officer, U.S. Businesses

Prudential Financial

Lisa Martinez Wolmart is the Chief Legal Officer for the U.S. Businesses of Prudential Financial, Inc. Ms. Wolmart and her team serve as strategic legal advisors supporting enterprise priorities across the U.S. Businesses, including Retirement Strategies, Group Insurance, Individual Life Insurance, Enabling Solutions, Retail Advice and Solutions and Assurance IQ. Before her current role, Ms. Wolmart served as the company’s Chief Litigation and Regulatory Officer where she and her team managed all litigation and regulatory matters for the company. Prior to joining Prudential in 2013, Ms. Wolmart served as a Legal Director of Merck & Co., Inc., formerly Schering-Plough Corporation, managing complex commercial litigation, product liability and multi-district litigation. Before transitioning to an inhouse counsel role, Ms. Wolmart represented Fortune 50 and 100 companies in complex litigation, most recently as a partner with Day Pitney LLP.

What is your proudest achievement?

I was blessed to have a loving family, and nurture four incredible children, with my husband and best friend of 31 years.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

The most important advice that I received as a young person, which has served me well over the years, is the value of resilience. I have learned how to give myself grace when I fall, and the importance of learning from my mistakes.

Lorna Luebbe

General Counsel, Senior Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer

Puget Sound Energy, Inc.

Lorna Luebbe serves as senior vice president, chief sustainability officer and general counsel for Puget Sound Energy (PSE). She is responsible for PSE’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts and progress toward PSE’s aspirational Beyond Net Zero Carbon goal. Lorna also handles complex litigation and other legal issues on behalf of PSE. Lorna has 20 years of utility experience and has held multiple roles throughout her long tenure at PSE, most recently as assistant general counsel and director of PSE’s Environmental Services Department. Lorna has led the company on compliance, regulatory issues, environmental strategy, climate change policy and mitigation, energy infrastructure siting, permitting, due diligence, and dispute resolution matters with additional experience with real estate, energy, contracts, municipal and transactional legal work. Prior to joining PSE, Lorna worked as an environmental lawyer at Heller Ehrman, LLP, Marten and Brown. LLP, and Arcadis representing a variety of clients on environmental, energy, regulatory and compliance matters. Before her law career she worked as a hydrogeologist for an environmental engineering firm. Lorna received a Bachelor of Arts degree in both geology and economics from Cornell University and a Juris Doctor degree from Lewis & Clark Law School with a certificate in Environmental Natural Resources Law. She is an active member of the community, serving in various roles with youth, education and conservation.

Sallie Mae

Amy is a recognied thought leader advising executive management and business leads on industry-disruptive technology, digital innovation, and data analytics initiatives in all company lifecycles. At Sallie Mae, Amy’s responsibilities include leading digital transformation, corporate development, including mergers and acquisitions; environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and data privacy, cybersecurity and other transactional matters.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest achievement are contributions in successfully reworking draft language of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) when serving on ESOMAR, a global audience research organization. The language, which required coordination across multiple countries’ Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) and ultimately adopted by the President of the European Union has since been cited by various DPAs as to why COVID-tracing is compliant with European (GDPR) laws. It’s a powerful reminder on why even the smallest language changes can have incredible impact.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

You can’t control a lot of things, but you can control your attitude and approach.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

More digital adoption; better clarity in agnostic functionality.

Cassie McBride

SVP, General Counsel

San Jose Sharks

When she was only 26 years old, Cassie McBride became one of the youngest attorneys to serve as general counsel for a professional football team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. After nine successful years in the NFL and 18 months into the pandemic, Cassie joined the Sharks Sports & Entertainment as Senior Vice President, General Counsel. In her new role, Cassie was tasked with leading the Legal, Human Resources and Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DI&B) functions for the organization at a time when, in the most COVID-restrictive sports market in the nation, the team needed to proactively identify a strategy forward to get back to live events and design unique and alternative revenue streams. Through a modern, forwardlooking approach toward the in-house legal function, Cassie has established a reputation as an effective general counsel embracing millennial culture. Maintaining a “pay it forward” attitude, Cassie mentors dozens of junior level and up-and-coming law professionals, both within sports and entertainment as well as other industries. She regularly conducts pro bono legal work and is a passionate advocate for women in law and sports.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

One of the most influential pieces of advice I received early on in my career was to focus on controlling the controllables. Simple and impactful, I use this regularly to shape my mindset, priorities and perspective. Learning this early on equipped me with the skills needed to not only progress in my career, but also navigate uncertain or challenging times both personally and professionally, especially during the COVID years.

Amy Yeung General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

Mona Dajani

Global Head of Renewables, Hydrogen & Ammonia , Global Co-Head of Energy & Infrastructure

Shearman & Sterling

Mona focuses on project finance, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, sustainable finance, portfolio acquisitions and tax equity matters along with advising government and private clients in energy and infrastructure projects. In her more than 25 years of practice, Mona has led numerous financing and acquisition/disposition and project development transactions involving solar, wind, hydrogen, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, waste to energy and net-zero disruptive technologies such as connectivity, autonomous driving, and e-mobility as well as gasification, transmission lines, and oil & gas pipelines. She has substantial experience managing syndicated loan and debt capital markets transactions, Islamic finance, equity and debt transactions, sustainable finance, ESG, syndicated commercial bank debt and arranging capital for new and established energy and infrastructure companies.

What is your proudest achievement?

While I have been fortunate to reach many milestones, both personally and professionally, my proudest achievement is giving birth to twins while maintaining a demanding Big Law partnership. Eli and Sofia are my pride and joy, and no amount of money or professional achievements can compare to the happiness they bring me. They have grown to be smart, kind, and passionate young adults and I am proud to be their mom.

Kimberly Drake-Loy Chief Legal & Risk Officer

Shermco Industries

Kimberly “Kim” Drake-Loy is the Chief Legal and Risk Officer for Shermco Industries, the largest and fastest growing electrical testing and commissioning company in North America. As a key member of the Shermco executive leadership team, Kim provides legal counsel and compliance oversight for all business units and support groups. Kim has over twenty-four years of experience in various industries, having served in leadership positions at CoreLogic, Mortgage Contracting Services, and most currently with Shermco. She successfully has led national licensing projects, implementation of contract management systems and internal contract review processes, closed multi-national merger and acquisition deals, established compliance management systems, and negotiated challenging large scale insurance renewals.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest achievement is having the courage to switch industries after a 20 year legal career in the mortgage/real estate/ finance world. This is one of the best decisions I have made with my career. I have learned more than I ever thought possible about myself, another industry, and the legal profession. My only regret is that I did not make this leap sooner!

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

The legal profession will need to further evolve and become more aligned with the business needs of their clients. This means that the profession will need to develop new efficiencies to keep pace with their corporate clients.

Leander A. Dolphin Managing Partner

Shipman & Goodwin LLP

Recognizing her strong leadership capabilities and long history with the firm, Shipman elevated Leander to the role of co-managing partner in 2021, and then to the role of sole managing partner in 2022. She is the first African American woman in the firm’s history to lead as managing partner. Leander is one of a very small group of women of color in top leadership roles at midsize and large law firms worldwide. She started at Shipman as a first-year associate in 2004. Prior to her election as managing partner, she served for three years on the management committee before being named co-managing partner in 2021. Leander is a member of Shipman’s School Law Practice Group, the largest in Connecticut, where she advises universities, colleges, public school districts, independent schools, and other public and private-sector clients on the full range of education and employment matters.

What is your proudest achievement?

My proudest achievement was being elected Managing Partner at Shipman & Goodwin LLP.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

I have received a lot of influential advice, and I try to be guided by the advice that resonates the most with me. One such piece of advice was to “run my own race.” Although not a runner, I have a lot of respect for these athletes, who teach us a lot about individuality, discipline, teamwork, and the benefits of keeping your eye on the finish line in your own race. Running my own race has helped me be inspired by others, while avoiding comparison. Looking to the left and right – taking your eye off your own lane – can slow you down, and can sometimes cause a misstep.

Shawn White

General Counsel

Smith Family Circle

Shawn Ray White is an experienced corporate executive and a dedicated public servant with a proven record of success in both corporate and nonprofit settings. She utilizes her extensive financial, legal, and business acumen to build and design family office and foundation infrastructure for high-net-worth families, particularly those most interested in building their legacy supporting innovative founders and philanthropic causes. She previously served as General Counsel to the Smith Family Circle (SFC), the family office that manages the assets, business enterprises, and foundations of Will Smith’s family based on the principle of improving lives. Before joining SFC, she served as a member of the executive team of The Barack Obama Foundation, responsible for leading the legal team and the provision of all legal services, including those related to the design and construction of the Obama Presidential Center and family office issues impacting the Foundation’s archives and collections.

What is your proudest achievement?

I will be most proud when I die to have my creator acknowledge that I have used every skill, gift, and advantage I was given to its fullest, highest, and best purpose.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

The legal profession must be a true reflection of the demographic diversity of this country at the highest levels and all levels or we will have failed the oaths we take to zealously advocate for clients and defend the integrity of this nation’s constitutional ideas.

Squire Patton Boggs

DeAndrea Washington focuses her practice on a variety of labor employment litigation matters. She provides preventive counsel and litigates employment disputes on behalf of public and private employers in federal and state courts, arbitration, and before administrative agencies, such as the Texas Workforce Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the United States Department of Labor. DeAndrea handles litigation matters at the pre-trial, trial, and appellate levels. She represents management in employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, noncompetition, and wage and hour disputes. Her litigation practice also includes breach of contract litigation.

What is one thing people should know about you but don’t?

I have been “the first” many times throughout my legal career and beyond. As a first-generation attorney, I had to navigate law school without the benefit of generational knowledge and skill. I excelled in law school and quickly began to understand my ability to make an impact through a career in the legal industry. I became the first Black female partner in my prior firm’s Houston office. I joined Spencer Fane as one of the first Black female partners firmwide. I know I must continue to work tirelessly to build my network in the local community and abroad to develop a true book of business that started “from scratch” – without the benefit of inheriting business like many of my counterparts.

Rebecca’s practice focuses on litigation, investigations, and white collar criminal defense, particularly financial crime defense and compliance. She represents clients in internal and government investigations, including matters involving economic sanctions, money laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. She is a certified anti-money laundering specialist, and helps clients design and evaluate BSA/ AML and sanctions compliance programs. Some of her recent work includes representing large foreign financial institutions in investigations of potential violations of US sanctions and money laundering laws and assisting a large African nation, including its financial intelligence unit and AML/CFT regulatory bodies, prepare for, conduct, and respond to its Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual evaluation.

DeAndrea C. Washington Partner

Spencer Fane LLP

Rebecca Worthington Partner

Kyra Laursen

Director, Legal Talent OfficeDE&I and Talent Development

Sullivan & Cromwell

Kyra leads Sullivan & Cromwell’s (“S&C”) Diversity Management Department and works directly with the firm’s senior leaders to ensure the firm takes a holistic approach in executing its initiatives. The advancement, support and growth of historically underrepresented individuals has been one of Kyra’s core tenets throughout her nearly 20-year career at elite law firms and top corporations. Kyra has broad experience across talent management and core business functions, including recruiting, professional development and training, human resources, business development and community outreach. She also is a Certified Lawyer Coach through Volta Talent Strategies.

What

is your proudest achievement?

I am proud to have served as a mentor for dozens of lawyers and professional staff at my firm and from my alma mater, Barnard. I love watching my mentees thrive in their careers and am always happy to support them wherever I can. I am also proud that my husband and I are raising our young son to be thoughtful and caring towards others.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received? Create your own success team and find your community that will uplift you.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

I hope that we continue to see lawyers leveraging their skills to help underserved communities and effect positive change.

Meyling “Mey” Ly Ortiz Managing Counsel, Labor & Employment Toyota

Mey is Managing Counsel for Labor & Employment at Toyota Motor North America, where she manages litigation, provides employment advice & counsel, develops training across the organization and catalyzes strategic company initiatives. Prior to Toyota, she practiced in the Dallas office of the largest employment law firm in the world, where she was recognized by D Magazine as one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas for Labor & Employment and a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine. While she was at Littler, she served as the President of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers in 2014.

What is your proudest achievement?

Co-chairing the Equal Access to Justice Campaign for the Dallas Bar Association that raised a record-breaking 1.3 million dollars in spite of the pandemic for legal aid for those who cannot afford legal assistance.

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

When sharing setbacks or issues, also share potential solutions. No one wants a problem as a “Just a FYI."

What is one thing people should know about you but don’t?

I’m the proud daughter of Kim and Jenne Ly -- refugees who escaped the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia, born a month after they arrived in the United States. My siblings and I are their American dream.

Nicole Clark Co-Founder & CEO Trellis

Nicole Clark is a business litigation and labor and employment attorney who has handled litigation in both state and federal courts. She’s worked at a variety of law firms ranging from mid-size litigation boutiques to large firms, and is licensed to practice law in three states. She has defended corporations and employers in complex class action and wage and hour disputes, as well as individual employment matters ranging from sexual harassment to wrongful termination. Additionally, Nicole is the CEO and co-founder of Trellis Research, a legal analytics platform that uses AI and machine learning to provide litigators with strategic legal intelligence and judicial analytics. Nicole has an intuitive understanding of technology and is deeply committed to helping lawyers leverage technology to gain a competitive advantage and achieve a more favorable outcome for their clients.

Dolores ‘Lola’

Garcia Partner & Co-Leader, Business Litigation Group Ulmer & Berne

Dolores (Lola) Garcia is an accomplished trial lawyer with a demonstrated record of success. She earned her undergraduate degree from Grinnell College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. Prior to joining Ulmer, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio’s Civil Division. In her practice at Ulmer, she represents individuals and organizations of all sizes in state and federal courts, and provides counsel on wide-ranging issues including business disputes, commercial contract interpretation, and compliance issues. Outside of her practice, Garcia serves on the Board of Directors of Providence House, a Cleveland-based crisis nursery that provides shelter to children at risk of abuse and neglect, and on the Board of Directors of SPACES, an artist-driven gallery and art incubator in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. She has also served on the boards of community and education focused nonprofits including the Near West Family Network, Ohio City, Inc., and Minds Matter of Cleveland.

Neera Chatterjee

Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel

U.S. Bank

Neera Chatterjee is currently Associate General Counsel within the Office of the Corporate Secretary and provides legal and strategic support to the Corporate Social Responsibility team, including the U.S. Bank Foundation and ESG program office, and related risk functions. Prior to joining U.S. Bank, Neera was Senior Vice President and Managing Counsel at Wells Fargo, where she led and managed the company’s regulatory change management function and advised on issues involving compliance risk management. She has also served as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the University of Texas System, a business litigation associate in the Austin office of the Dallas-based law firm Haynes and Boone, LLP, and a law clerk to federal judges in New Mexico and Texas. Neera is committed to furthering inclusion and equity in the legal profession, the financial services industry, and the broader community. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a nonprofit association comprised of legal employers who share a vision to create a vibrant and inclusive legal community as well as the Board of Directors of Prepare + Prosper, a nonprofit that works with low- to moderate-income individuals and families to build financial well-being. She also serves as Chair of the U.S. Bank Law Division’s Equity & Racial Justice Council.

What is your proudest achievement?

I have immense gratitude for having had an engaging, varied, and challenging career, surrounded by sharp legal thinkers who have been generous with their time and take seriously their role in advancing access to justice.

Rippi Karda

Associate General Counsel

Verizon

As an Associate General Counsel in the Public Policy, Law and Security department at Verizon Communications Inc., Rippi handles contracts for Sourcing involving Human Resources Benefits/Plans, Supplier Diversity, Advertising Agencies, Contact Centers, Contingent Workforce and Executive Recruiting. In addition, she works with the Diversity Equity & Inclusion Council, PACE and WAVE organizations at Verizon. She has received the prestigious Verizon Pro Bono Service Award as recognition of her meaningful legal contributions in domestic violence and corporate matters. Rippi speaks frequently on diversity and business law at various conferences. As a complimentary service, she runs a complimentary LinkedIn series titled “Attorney of the Week” to highlight the notable achievements of diverse attorneys.

What is your proudest achievement?

Being named as Chair of the Asian American Pacific Islander Commission by Governor Murphy; Mother to two extremely skilled, young, opiniated negotiator-type daughters and my extraordinary network..

What is the most influential piece of advice (professional or personal) you have received?

Be self-aware, read the room, don’t anchor yourself early on in a tenuous negotiation.

Where do you see the legal profession in 10+ years?

More of a business partner type role focused on strategic advice; evolved into automated and readily-accessible information for most people.

Fortive

Partner, Co-Chair of Investment Management and Funds

Katten Muchin Rosenman

The Fourth Floor

Christine Wheatley

General Counsel & Group VP

The Kroger Co.

Jennifer Zerm VP, Chief Compliance Officer

Breen Sullivan Founder

Allison Yacker

CCBJ’s Call for Nominations for the 2nd Annual 50 Women to Watch opens on Monday, February 5, 2024.

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Thank you to our esteemed faculty, attendees and supporters for a successful, in-person event, CCBJ’s 5th Annual Women in Business & Law, at The Tarrytown House Estate this past November. It was so nice to see all of your smiling faces once again! Join us again for our 6th Annual Women in Business & Law event in November of 2024!

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Pulse

Changes in Legal Operations – A Look Back Over the Last Decade

CATHERINE J. MOYNIHAN EPIQ

As the legal landscape evolves at unprecedented speed, the role of legal operations within a business continues to transform. Legal departments are under increasing pressure to serve the business and reduce costs. This looks different for every organization and needs change as priorities shift, outside factors influence business demands, and new technology trends. When the concept of legal operations first emerged, it was broadly defined as finding ways to run legal more like a business. This characterization still rings true today, but as the legal industry develops so do the roles of legal operations professionals. There are more defined responsibilities that fall under this umbrella and connect legal with the entire enterprise.

The Evolution

Ten years ago, the role of legal operations was akin to a general counsel’s chief of staff. Some even have a legal chief of staff or a hybrid chief of staff/head of legal operations title. For many the role was more administrative encompassing tasks such as billing management, meeting preparation, vendor management, technology planning, policy review, and process improvement. As the role evolved, more professionals also started acting as a liaison between the general counsel and other parts of the business to facilitate better communication and drive decisions.

Over the last decade, professional organizations dedicated to bringing the legal operations community together have grown. The desire to explore innovative approaches for running legal like a business has also deepened. This

has sparked change in the industry to make the role of legal operations a more strategic one. The wide the range of business processes and activities that can help legal departments run more efficiently is increasingly apparent. More organizations of all sizes have brought legal operations professionals in-house and created specific roles dedicated to this function or refocused the role away from the administrative side.

There are also opportunities to partner with outside consultants that assist legal departments with meeting near-term challenges and planning for a digital, technologyenabled future. Overall, the legal operations function is critical in harmonizing enterprise level goals with legal service delivery.

Importance of the Changing Role of Legal Operations

Investing in people that can help effectuate meaningful change and drive strategic initiatives for the legal department is key. This requires a deep understanding of why legal operations is an important function and the value that strategy-focused individuals can bring to the plate. Here are four reasons to consider.

1) Legal operations professionals act as strategic partners that can bridge gaps between legal and the business. Having an in-house legal operations team or outside consultant that focus on solutions demonstrating value to the business is truly transformative. Legal departments can achieve performance excellence via tailored comprehensive strategy, technology, and change management initiatives. Trending areas that legal operations teams are targeting include contract management, knowledge management, technology and vendor vetting, regulatory compliance, metrics, legal spend, and outside counsel management. Aligning these functions with business goals leads to better risk control, cost efficiency, and enterprise-wide collaboration.

In many of these areas, the legal operations role has shifted. For example, some professionals have a seat at

the decision-making table and make buying decisions for the department . This has moved beyond being a communication liaison for the general counsel to having a voice in why certain investments are worth keeping in or out of the budget, the most efficient way to get there, and how it all ties to enterprise-level goals.

2) Legal operations professionals help navigate tech innovation. Legal operations teams can advise on ways to leverage tools that help meet strategic goals, which will look different for every organization and change as new priorities emerge. With new legal tech solutions constantly entering the market, appropriately scaling technology and justifying investment to the business can be a tough task. Legal operations professionals have the experience and resources to not only manage and track performance for legal tech investments, but also change company culture when it comes to embracing new solutions. Through design thinking, these teams can pinpoint ways to streamline processes that create efficiencies and reduce bottlenecks while also considering new ways to deliver services.

3) Legal operations professionals use data to formulate creative solutions. Having advanced metrics and data analysis capabilities to guide strategic decisions is a proven game changer. General counsel should look for partners that can empower legal teams to re-envision the delivery of legal services, create necessary and datadriven strategies, and then execute new plans successfully. A solid approach

Catherine J. Moynihan is Senior Director, Strategic Intelligence and Advisory for Epiq’s Legal Business Advisory Group, overseeing Hyperion Research, Epiq’s legal market intelligence program, and spearheading legal advisory intelligence programs for global legal executives focused on legal operations transformation.

includes benchmarking against internal and industry data, creating a roadmap, and then delivering results. Having metrics and access to legal business intelligence is a tangible way to illustrate industry trends and demonstrate legal’s value to company leaders.

4) Legal operations professionals can formulate roadmaps for the efficient, cost-effective, and compliant delivery of legal services. Many larger organizations are now creating legal panels that consist of pre-approved outside counsel. This helps streamline case assignments, instills predictability, and provides reassurance that the right lawyers will be available to tackle complex and varied issues. Legal operations professionals have the skillsets to set criteria for these panels, which encompasses thorough consideration of the legal department’s needs and budget . They can also implement adherence to outside counsel guidelines.

Conclusion

So, what will the next decade look like for the legal operations profession? One thing for sure is that it will keep growing and become even more integrated in the role of delivering legal services. The reasons why legal operations professionals are important to an organization will continue to lengthen, but the underlying theme will always be that they can connect legal with the rest of the enterprise. There is no doubt that this will continue to evolve into an even more strategic role.

The business world is in an extremely dynamic and transformative period, with innovation soaring and technology driving new ways to get work done. Legal operations is the link to help general counsel build a culture of compliance, optimize workflows in every department, manage costs, and navigate changes that surface. 

The Modern General Counsel: Legal Advisor and Strategic Business Partner

ANDY TEICHHOLZ

OPENTEXT

The modern general counsel (GC) role has evolved from legal advisor into something more. They now serve as a strategic and influential partner and counsel to the C-Suite, helping make decisions that protect the business while guiding growth and profitability.

Trained to mitigate risks, the GC must now shift focus to how to best manage risks in a highly risky environment. They must provide strategic insight, as legal and regulatory concerns arise, to change the perception of the legal function as simply a cost center.

In interacting with OpenText enterprise customers, including many of the largest and most sophisticated global corporations, it became evident that enterprise Legal departments are facing unprecedented disruption as digital transformation, regulatory, social, and economic shifts make the old ways of operating legal departments untenable. To better understand these challenges and help legal departments leverage technology to optimize operations, OpenText undertook a survey with Corporate Counsel Business Journal (CCBJ) of almost 300 enterprise legal leaders (“OpenText / CCBJ Study”).

This paper explores the evolving responsibilities, key priorities, and highlights innovation, occurring in the market and validated in our survey that is needed to shape the modern practice and business of law to not only survive but thrive in the digital age

Shifting expectations and responsibilities

Regulatory complexity and global economic constriction are driving expansion of the legal responsibilities of the GC.

A stronger voice, greater agility, and innovation are necessary to weather changing expectations, increased volume and complexity of data, new regulations, and cost pressures.

In the OpenText/CCBJ study, the factors that have had the greatest impact on changing roles and responsibilities include:

• Expanded responsibilities to other risk areas (69 percent)

• Increase in regulations and compliance mandates (55 percent)

• Profitability and business outcomes requiring stronger risk management (55 percent)

Moreover, the pace of change is accelerating, fueled by expanded responsibilities in the following risk areas:

• Compliance monitoring (63 percent)

• Data privacy management (47 percent)

• Cybersecurity planning (36 percent)

Accordingly, legal risk must be better managed, decisions made faster and operational costs reduced. GCs must also learn to exploit new critical technologies for maximizing ROI and minimizing risk in re-shaping the modern enterprise practice and business of law.

Decision-making with C-Suite executives

87 percent of chief legal officers agreed that the role of general counsel is shifting from legal advisor/risk mitigator to a strategic and influential partner to other senior executives. These executives included CEOs, COOs, CISOs, CTOs and CISOs. (FN)

GCs possess a unique understanding of business activities, including operations, risks, and opportunities. Working with the C-Suite and other executives, they can be valuable assets in establishing predictability and resolving uncertainties relating to economic, operational, sociopolitical, and regulatory risks.

To succeed today, the GC must become smarter and more informed. Modern technology allows faster access to facts to drive and improve planning while making better risk-adjusted decisions. These legal leaders should work more crossfunctionally with other business departments to gain a clear understanding of goals, challenges, and overall operations. As a result, their legal strategies and decision-making will be data driven and will help the business avoid risk.

Partnering with the CIO

Meeting these goals not only requires close collaboration with its legal operations team (Legal Ops), which it is doing today, but also with the chief information officer (CIO). In our recent survey, 48 percent of general counsel stated that CIOs play a critical or important role in delivering on departmental legal innovation strategy. The CIO should be a critical partner not only to address crossfunctional risk challenges (e.g., cybersecurity technology), but to support the GC and its Legal Ops team (if in place) in identifying and developing solutions to digitally transform the legal department while ensuring the full value of technology utilized. Today, adoption remains low. Many in-house legal departments do not have established technologies, such as matter and document management, in place. And lack of IT advocacy and collaboration—34 percent of survey respondents reported that they don’t even have a Legal Ops team—is a key barrier preventing implementation of technology, according to 40 percent of GCs surveyed.

The legal team’s technical requirements must align with solution needs and existing systems. This includes how that infrastructure is configured and maintained, deployment options, and how performance is measured.

GCs cited the following areas in which collaboration with CIOs has proved useful, if not critical:

• Identifying the right technology opinions to support needs/requirements, cited by 46 percent of survey participants

• Evaluating full value, including ROI, of technology options

• Mapping solution needs to existing systems

• Support user acceptance

Technical partnership between legal and IT teams will boost adoption by ensuring needs are best met, establishing integrations with key applications, reassessing work dynamics, and driving secure and compliant data handling.

GC as the risk and compliance manager

A global pandemic, new government policies, a paradigm shift to remote work, and a rise in social activism have created new risks. With a continuously changing landscape, there is greater scrutiny of how organizations evaluate and manage risk. Legal departments are forced to act based on fears emanating from the boardroom, especially with regards to reputational damage. According to a recent report,

• 55 percent of GCs surveyed said profitability and business outcomes require stronger risk management

• 41 percent cited business emphasis on risk management (vs. risk avoidance)

Business leaders cannot afford to manage risks on a reactive basis. According to a recent report, 70 percent of GCs responded that managing risk proactively (instead of reactively) is the area of their department they are most focused on improving.

“The general counsel is now more of a secretary of state for the CEO; there is a sense that a crisis can pop up in a geopolitical way.” The GC must adjust to the unpredictability of internal and external risk impacting the organization, adapting operating models to stay ahead of modern challenges.

Regulatory scrutiny is on the rise. In the United States, the Biden Administration’s goals of combatting corruption require greater coordination and data sharing across many enforcement agencies. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and other regulators have committed significant resources to corporate criminal and civil enforcement. New rules, updates, and guidance are increasing burdens on companies to identify compliance issues.

The Federal Trade Commission is pursuing more antitrust lawsuits, investigating significantly more merger deals, and enforcing stricter settlements. Whistleblower incentives and protections are on the rise (e.g., the US Securities and Exchange Commission program payout is at an

all-time high) along with significant efforts to increase whistleblower protections in the European Union (e.g., the EU Whistleblower Directive).

For in-house legal and investigations teams, the threat of internal misconduct is rapidly increasing in frequency and scale. In a recent survey of GCs, 55 percent cited an increase in regulations and compliance mandates. Enforcement agencies expect more businesses, emphasizing iterative risk management and the need to use data analytics to inform those activities.

The CCBJ survey confirms this trend. Asked which factors have had the greatest impact on their changing roles and responsibilities:

• 63 percent of respondents said compliance monitoring

• 47 percent cited data privacy management

• 36 percent said cybersecurity planning

Expanded role in cybersecurity and privacy

Cyber-attacks have become the second-highest ranked area of concern for class action lawsuits and an area of expected dispute exposure. Comprehensive data privacy and protection laws, with their stringent obligations and potential for fines and lawsuits have exacerbated this. Breaches often create significant chaos as key members of the executive team pivot from preexisting priorities to address the reputational, regulatory, and likely financial impacts.

GCs and their departments are starting to play a pivotal role in driving organizational cybersecurity and data protection initiatives. They are collaborating closely with IT and security teams to develop robust information security policies, incident response plans, and data breach notification protocols. According to a recent report:

• More than 84 percent of chief legal officers (CLOs) now have at least some cybersecurity-related

responsibilities, including compliance monitoring (63 percent), data privacy management (47 percent) and cybersecurity planning (36 percent).

• 22 percent of companies now employ an in-house counsel with responsibility for cybersecurity—up 10 percent since 2018.

• In 48 percent of cases, this lawyer is responsible for coordinating cybersecurity strategy across the entire enterprise. In 29 percent of cases, they are fully embedded in cybersecurity/IT, working directly with technical resources.

Data privacy management and ESG

Many general counsel are facing an ever-expanding role in managing the enterprise data privacy program. In fact, privacy is now the most common business function directly overseen by legal, overtaking compliance. Almost half of organizations in North America house their privacy function in legal, compared to approximately onethird of organizations across the rest of the world.

Beyond climate change issues and guidance on disclosure requirements, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) priorities and goals are becoming a key risk management priority for the modern GC, according to a recent survey on new areas of focus, which ranks ESG ahead of regulatory and internal investigations, neck and neck with information governance and closing in on incident response. Many in-house departments are leading material portions of ESG initiatives and strategy. This includes having greater oversight in some jurisdictions, over due-diligence, third-party practices, and keeping track of regulatory and compliance obligations.

Organizations also have to consider growing consumer activism. Many legal departments are concerned with a rise in ESG-related class actions. With increased emphasis on the social and governance pillars, corporate governance, anti-corruption, and oversight regarding supplier practices associated with modern slavery and human rights have emerged as key priorities.

A fundamental move over the last several years to hybrid and remote work means workers expect higher degrees of flexibility and greater work-life balance.

Innovation, productivity, and talent retention

The modern GC must recruit, hire, and retain a supremely skilled team to successfully execute on these initiatives. With more work insourced, delivery models must be assessed, including possibly hiring non-legal professionals to augment internal skill sets and meet department needs. This may include technologists, program managers, data analysts, eDiscovery professionals, business strategists, and operations specialists.

A fundamental move over the last several years to hybrid and remote work means workers expect higher degrees of flexibility and greater work-life balance.

The hybrid work paradigm is not a passing fad—and inhouse legal departments must operate in some remote capacity going forward. As more Gen Zers and Millennials dominate the workforce, a more empathetic and flexible work environment is needed to remain competitive and ensure skilled workers remain engaged and fulfilled.

Legal department leaders are clear that they want to facilitate innovation for their organizations, recognizing that automation and other innovations must be implemented to increase productivity and improve performance and collaboration. According to a recent report, 54 percent of GCs surveyed said managing increased workload to avoid delays and reduced quality is a departmental priority and 47 percent said optimizing and streamlining operations are among their chief concerns. This provides breathing room to prioritize the professional

fulfillment and work-life balance desired by today’s workforce. (Of course, both take a backseat to GC’s top departmental priorities: improving their teams’ abilities to proactively manage risk (70 percent) and keep up with and meet new regulatory demands (47 percent)).

Technology: Managing risk and costs without sacrificing quality

machine learning with a focus on automating workflows and solving complex legal programs.

By adopting these platforms and solutions, legal departments can optimize workflow, enhance collaboration, and increase productivity within their legal teams. Centralized access to legal resources and repositories facilitates effective knowledge sharing, repurposing work to expedite responses to litigation or regulatory requests and ensuring consistency and defensibility across the organization. In one recent report, the top reasons cited by GCs for wanting to implement AI were:

Research from the Thomson Reuters Institute has found that while 65 percent of law departments are experiencing increasing matter volumes, 59 percent are dealing with flat if not decreasing budgets. At the same time, regulatory developments, compliance risks, and support costs are causing legal departments to anticipate much more legal spending across practices, regions, and industry sectors. In fact, the median total legal spend by law departments rose 29 percent to $3.1 million, from $2.4 million a year ago.

• Free up time to perform high-value work (60 percent of respondents)

• Enable legal teams to increase productivity (55 percent)

• Automate and simplify time-consuming and errorprone manual processes (49 percent)

eDiscovery, Enterprise Content Management, Information Governance, Data Privacy, Content Security, and Records Information Management.

The GC is starting to rely on technology to streamline legal operations. In one recent study, 91 percent said technology is critical or important to meet legal strategy, objectives and challenges and 55 percent expect their legal technology budget to increase. Technology investment is being leveraged to improve key legal activities, keep other expenses down, and to meet deadlines. This includes advanced analytics, AI, and

Information retrieval tools, advanced technology, and services are being sought to minimize the costs and risk of eDiscovery, managing legal hold notifications, and preserving data. Many buyers are placing heavy emphasis on offerings that cover end-to-end requirements. They are selecting technology to improve and automate the legal hold notification and tracking process that integrates with eDiscovery solutions.

Headwinds remain, however. According to GCs, barriers to technology implementation include:

• Budgetary constraints (78 percent)

• Lack of IT advocacy and collaboration (40 percent)

• Slowness to embrace new technology (34 percent)

The ultimate goal is a balance between minimizing the costs of outside counsel and keeping permanent staffing of inhouse resources down. For document reviews, this includes determining what cases or matters to apply more resources towards and the sophistication needed to support review activities and analysis.

Andy Teichholz is a Global Industry Strategist, Compliance & Legal for OpenText. He is an experienced SME with extensive background as a litigator, in-house counsel, services consultant, and technology provider. He has supported business development and GTM marketing strategies to improve brand awareness and convert sales opportunities for software deployment and professional services engagements. He has helped design, sell, market, and deliver process and technology solutions relating to

Leveraging outside providers as valuable experts and resources can be especially useful for document review services, as well as those associated with litigation support activities. Experts can leverage existing workflows or customize them in ways that are legally defensible. With service professionals’ support, technology assisted review (TAR) and visualization tools can be used to provide legal departments with true value. Organizations can mobilize resources efficiently to meet deadlines and keep review costs down.

Focus on high-value work

In-house legal departments must get creative to meet demands and ensure manageable workloads with a limited resource pool. Technology can free up legal teams to focus on more substantive, high-value work vs. mundane or routine legal tasks. Higher- value targets can include accelerating data analysis or review to meet deadlines or find information pertinent to a matter, distilling facts, and driving prioritization and case strategy.

In the recent survey of GCs, respondents said areas of focus on their productivity journey include: streamlining operations through optimized workflows (46 percent), automating manual tasks being performed by staff (42 percent), improving knowledge sharing across legal teams (34 percent), adopting technology to drive productivity (33 percent), supporting collaboration in a remote/hybrid work environment (28 percent), providing centralized access to legal resources (26 percent), adopting generative AI technology (17 percent), and reducing time and effort to manage outside counsel (14 percent).

Expanding the eDiscovery use case

Information retrieval and advanced analytics tools, including eDiscovery technology and techniques, are being implemented to support use cases beyond litigation— including investigations, arbitrations, audits, incidence or post data breach response, information/subject rights requests, and M&A due diligence activities.

Some organizations are outsourcing investigative capabilities and expertise to locate key facts and gain insights at a fraction of the time through unique workflows and automation. With increased obligations to demonstrate effective compliance programs, greater emphasis is being placed on data-driven approaches to risk management and analysis.

Future outlook

Forward-thinking enterprise lawyers are already creating high-performance, highly flexible legal departments. They are using solutions to support business colleagues, deliver better staff experiences, and provide greater control over work performed by outside providers.

There is an opportunity for the legal executive to emerge as an empowered decision-maker relying on intuition, legal knowledge, and data-driven insights. With a more robust and informed approach to risk-based decision-making, the modern GC can tackle emerging compliance and regulatory challenges with fiscal frugality.

Methodology for Side Bar

OpenText and Corporate Counsel Business Journal conducted a research study by sending invitations to an online survey to corporate law departments. There were 289 legal professionals—74 percent of whom are located in North America-- who responded to the survey between July and August, 2023.

Of these respondents, 76 percent were from corporate law departments between 1 and 10 attorneys; 15 percent were from law departments between 11-25 attorneys; 4 percent were from law departments between 51-100 attorneys; and 5 percent were from law departments over 100 attorneys.

The respondents represent a broad range of industries from banking and financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and government and many others. 

LEGAL TECH STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

CEO: Nicole Clark

HQ: Santa Monica, CA

# of Employees: 40

Total Raised: $35.56M

Post Valuation: $90.00M

Institutional Investors:

• Top Tier Capital Partners

• Revel Partners

• Okapi Venture Capital

@trellis_law

www.trellis.law/

Description:

Developer of a legal intelligence platform designed to focus on local courts and judgelevel analytics. The company's platform offers legal research services that harness the power of data and AI to provide judicial and legal analytics and provide insights into specific legal issues that are decided across countries, enabling litigators to win cases by analyzing the opposing counsel.

Most Recent Financing Status

The company raised $15 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Top Tier Capital Partners on August 22, 2023, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $75 million. Revel Partners, Okapi Venture Capital, Craft Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Headline and Sky Dayton also participated in the round.