As general counsels and their legal teams sally forth into the age of AI, the lasting impact large language models could have on the industry is a hotly debated topic.   Catheryn O’Rourke, General Counsel & Company Secretary at Reckitt, is cautiously optimistic about the potential for AI to abolish “soul-crushing” work. But she keeps herself grounded by leaning on technological experts to help guide her team’s AI strategy. Tune in to hear Catheryn’s insights into innovative tools like...

As Elon Musk prepares to go toe-to-toe with legal giant Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz over $90 million in billed fees, this high profile case raises several questions about outcome-based legal fees and how corporate legal teams determine a fair and reasonable price in sourcing their outside counsel.    Did Wachtell overstep in their mad scramble to bill a $60 million premium right before Musk closed his Twitter acquisition? Did the board abdicate their duty to shareholders by not...

This week we're joined by Mark Gregory, General Counsel & Corporate Affairs Director at Rolls-Royce We dive into his career as the longest serving exec at Rolls-Royce and the unique perspective it gives him on how his team, and the industry as a whole, are evolving in response to a rapidly changing marketplace. Mark talks about the historic misalignment of interests between in-house teams and their outside firms and why an ecosystem approach is the only way to fix it. Mark also...

Modernizing a large legal department isn’t an easy task. What’s your strategy?   Buy tech? Build tech? Experiment until something sticks? This week, we sat down with Sarah Flint, Director of Legal Operations and Technology at HubSpot to see how it’s being done at one of the world’s biggest CRM companies. Join us as we discuss:  - Hubspot’s recent wins and challenges in legal ops [8:08] - If legal ops need to come from a legal background [11:47] - What role generative AI has...

Rozan Simoni spent his early childhood in Albania under a despotic Soviet regime. Soon after the Berlin Wall fell, U.S. Secretary of State Jim Baker came to visit Rozan’s country. The young Albanian boy never forgot two simple words that Baker uttered that day: “Freedom works.” Today, as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary - North America at COFCO International, Rozan is paying it forward by giving his colleagues the autonomy they need to reach their potential. In this captivating...

How does an organization’s in-house legal team help farmers worldwide feed billions of people? According to Cornel Fuerer, Senior VP, General Counsel, and Secretary at Corteva Agriscience, they start by tackling change one bite at a time. Cornel built up a wealth of private and in-house legal experience during his globetrotting journey toward his current role at Corteva. And he did it by looking at every new challenge as a learning opportunity. In this episode, Cornel shares his...

Change is a constant, but when embraced, it becomes a superpower. This week we sat down with Alex Guajardo, the Global Director of Commercial Strategy at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. Alex shared how she is using change in legal ops to not only stay current but to get a step ahead of the curve. Sometimes we dismiss the power of information in the process of change, but it seems the more we have, the better off we are. In this episode, we not only get an inside look at legal ops, who...

When Damon Hart left big law to join the in-house team at Liberty Mutual Insurance, he didn’t have a specific career goal in mind. But one thing he knew for certain was he wanted to lead change from the front. Today, as Liberty’s Chief Legal Officer, he’s enterprising legal leadership in the C-Suite by working towards the best interests of not just his team, but all 50,000 Liberty employees. Damon gives us an exclusive peek into how he gained the trust of his peers through active...

What drives you? Is it success? Is it the competition? For Dana Pierre-Louis the Deputy General Counsel at Norfolk Southern Corporation simply put, it’s “excellence”. “From a very early age, the insinuation of excellence and doing above and beyond was always there.” – Dana We sit down and talk about everything from what inspired her journey (she started at 7 years old) to how she plans on passing her learnings and experience on to her children. In this episode, we delve into a life...

Rene Du Preez always felt she had to jump right in and give her all with everything she did. Rene started her career as the only female associate at her first South African law firm in the early 90s. Since then, the GC at Standard Bank Group has become an advocate and mentor for other African women breaking into the field. Rene shares how her experiences in investment and retail banking helped shape her as a leader and a champion for change in the African legal space.   Join us as we...

According to a March 2023 report from Russell Reynolds, Fortune 500 companies made significant headway in hiring female GCs to lead their legal teams in 2022. But as LaTanya Langley, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Edgewell Personal Care, suggested, female legal professionals must continue to use their gifts to take up space. For much of her career, LaTanya had to overcome conventional biases. But instead of wilting, she embraced her differences as strengths and took her...

Megan Beauregard thought she was living out her dream at a small law firm in New Hampshire, but after a client suggested she consider moving in-house, her curiosity was piqued. So when she happened upon a Craigslist posting in 2008 for legal counsel in the energy industry, she knew it was the right time to explore new possibilities. Fifteen years later, as the Chief Legal Officer at Enel North America, Megan is moving the needle in DEI initiatives for her industry. Megan gives us an...

Veta Richardson, President and CEO of the Association of Corporate Counsel, thinks everyone deserves a hand up if they can find the humility to ask for it. That’s why she’s a champion for greater inclusion of women and people of multicultural backgrounds in the global marketplace. Veta believes in the power of helping others, putting those values to paper in her best-selling book, Take Six: Essential Habits to Own Your Destiny, Overcome Challenges, and Unlock Opportunities. Today, Veta and...

Maui Gevero, Senior Manager of Legal Advisory at PERSUIT, has always had a passion for numbers, so the financial industry seemed like the perfect fit for his talents. But after spending a few years with Goldman Sachs, he knew that the banking life wasn’t for him. He loved digging into data and analytics, but the traditional institution had a traditional way of thinking. He wanted to use the information at his fingertips to tell stories more akin to a Western than an infomercial, so he...

After reading The Wise Men in the 1980s, Cameron Findlay knew that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of America’s political trailblazers. He achieved his dream, wearing multiple hats in the judicial and executive branches of the U.S. government before pivoting to the private sector. Today, Cam is serving as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary at his third Fortune 500 company, Archer Daniels Midland. Cam shares the incredible insight he’s gained during his colorful...

We’ve enjoyed so many sharp conversations with legal experts and industry game-changers on the journey to our hundredth episode of Innovative Legal Leadership. So who better to celebrate this milestone with than Michelle Landy, General Counsel and Chief Operations Officer of PERSUIT. With over 25 years of experience in private law firms and in-house practice, Michelle’s set foot on quite a few branches of the career tree. She calls it such because she argues no one shares the same ladder —...

You could say Nicole Kelsey, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary at Amyris, is addicted to learning. Since Nicole was young, her Algerian mother branded a love for languages and different cultures on her daughter’s heart. Now, she’s bringing her fiery passion for continuing education to the legal profession.     Nicole shares her provocative story of grit and growth in pursuing a GC role and empowering her team through innovative leadership.    Join us as we discuss: - Early inspiration...

As a competitive chess player in his college days, Alan Tse gained an appreciation for having to make timely tactical decisions. Like competitors in the game of kings, lawyers must often make important judgment calls without all the facts at their disposal, even if that means tough lessons may follow. Now the Global Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Jones Lang Lasalle, Alan leaned on his extensive experience to help his global team navigate a pandemic. And they did so while...

It’s not uncommon for up-and-coming professionals to follow their parents into law. That was certainly the case for Mike Haven, Associate GC and Head of Legal Ops at Intel. After watching his father give a deposition before the United States Supreme Court, young Mike knew he wanted to walk in his father’s footsteps.   Mike’s journey led him to the crossroad of business and law — legal operations. Today, he’s working with his team to bring legal issues of the mind together with matters of...

Nonprofit in-house legal teams are the Davids in a world full of Goliath corporate legal departments and private law firms. But their passion for leaving the world a better place than they found it continually drives out-of-the-box thinking and innovation. That’s exactly what Phyllis Harris, General Counsel and Chief Compliance, Ethics, and Government Relations Officer at the American Red Cross, and her team are doing in the post-Covid era. Phyllis shares how focusing on strategic...

The globalization of many in-house legal teams has become one of the greatest individual challenges for up-and-coming legal professionals. Yet, Michael Hoffman, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Counsel at NXP Semiconductors, realized early in his international career that law is a universal language. Michael shares his insights on recognizing cultural differences and how in-house leaders can be good business partners in a cross-functional environment.   Join us as we...

Like so many other young legal professionals, Demetrio Zema was beaten down by the competitive pressures and disregard for client outcomes in fixed fee arrangements. So in 2015, the Melbourne native left traditional legal teams behind and founded Law Squared, a firm built around an alternative business model that rewards outcomes over billed hours. As the Director of this forward-thinking global firm, Demetrio gives an exclusive look into the highs and lows of pioneering change in legal fee...

Ann Kappler found a passion for in-house people management while on her journey to becoming the EVP and General Counsel at Prudential Financial. She takes pride in helping develop successful teams because, in her words, it’s seeing individuals come together and contribute that satisfies her the most in her work. Ann gives us an exclusive look at how she pivoted her policy-making experience from Washington, D.C., into driving economic and DEI initiatives at a global insurance agency....

In-house legal teams are constantly tested by contemporary challenges, so it takes a special team to consistently drive in-house legal innovation alongside normal operations. Yet, that’s exactly what Rishi Varma, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and his team are doing. As the Financial Times’ North America Innovative Lawyers Awards winners for Most Innovative In-House Legal Team in 2022, Rishi’s team is developing exciting new solutions for legal...

As an eager young attorney at a large corporate firm, Laura Spalding quickly became disillusioned by unattainable billable hour quotas. But her experience in a space where nightmarish workloads drove promotions and bonuses inevitably sparked her burning passion for helping innovate the legal space. Now the Director of the Legal Advisory Team at PERSUIT, Laura talks about how she and other young legal professionals have been victimized by the billable hour. Join us as we discuss - How...