October 31, 2025 • 10 mins
It was a privilege to interview these leaders for this mixtape from the 2025 Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting:
- Ashley Miller, General Counsel, Financial Services, North America, and Head of Legal Operations, Americas, Capgemini
- Anthony Bégon, Vice President, Legal, Trellix
- Daniel Bonner, Director of Client Solutions, Level Legal
- Gabe Gross, Head of eDiscovery, DiliTrust
- Janice Ryan, Partner, Venable
- Jeni Turner, Director, Go-to-Market Strategy and Client Engagement, Corporate Legal, LexisNexis
- Jim McGrew, Chief Client Services Officer, Ogletree Deakins
- Joshua Maley, CEO and Co-Founder, Theorem Legal
- Kyle Konz, Shareholder, Brooks Kushman
- Mark Nastasi, Founder and CEO, CobbleStone Software
- Michael Babitsky, Head of Strategy and Operations, Corporate Legal, LexisNexis
- Monica Harris, Senior Product Manager, American Arbitration Association
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is Ari Kaplan at the 2025 Associationof Corporate Counsel, annual Meeting,
(00:06):
Ashley Miller, the General CounselFinancial Services, north America and
Head of Legal Operations America's.
Capgemini.
Anthony Pegon, VP of Legal at t trx.
Daniel Bonner, director ofClient Solutions at Level Legal.
Gabe Gross, head of eDiscovery Dili Trust.
Janice Ryan.
I am a partner at Venable and I'm co-chairof our nonprofit organization's practice.
(00:30):
Jenny Turner of Go-to Market Strategyfor Corporate Legal at LexiNexis.
Jim McGrew, chief Client ServicesOfficer for Obree Deacons.
Joshua O'Malley, CEO andco-founder of here Lead.
Kyle Cones, shareholder at Brooks Cushman.
Mark Mista from Cobblestone Software andI'm the CEO and founder of Cobblestone.
(00:52):
Michael Loki, LexiNexis headof Vest and Operations for
the corporate legal business.
Monica Harris, senior EO Product Manager,American Arbitration Association.
What's the biggest challengeyou're hoping to find answers to
at this year's a CC annual meeting?
What are you hoping to learn atthis year's a CC annual meeting?
(01:12):
How would you describe the.
A CC annual meeting community.
What's unique about thea CC annual meeting?
What's your objective at thisyear's a CC annual meeting?
What questions are youhearing from in-house leaders
at this year's conference?
What's the secret to drivinginnovation to enhance client service?
(01:34):
How are in-house legal teams navigatingthe technology selection process?
What's the objective for law firms at the.
C, annual meeting.
Why is contract management soimportant for in-house leaders?
What have you found most interestingat this year's a CC annual meeting?
(01:55):
How are you enjoying yourfirst annual meeting?
I'm looking forward to seeing some ofthe progression in AI for contracting
tools, particularly generativeAI around redlining, contract
summarization, and then also mixingin a bit of that deviation management.
One of the things that we're doinginternally at Capgemini is understanding
(02:16):
the pain points that exist, whattechnologies exist on the market,
what we can do internally, and tryingto create more of a foundational
collective inquiry as to how we canactually help solve those challenges.
As far as the technology itself isconcerned, obviously there's a lot
(02:36):
of concerns around privacy, securitybias, and that is really being handled
through our corporate frameworksaround responsible and ethics of ai.
That's something Capgemini has had inplace for the last two years, and we
need to be very mindful of how we'reusing it and be responsible in doing so.
(02:58):
The main thing that I want to takeaway from here is understanding
what emerging technologies peopleare actually using to enhance their
prior and, through the vendors.
I'm trying to learn a lotabout their technology.
I just came from the session onboard minutes and obviously AI is
(03:19):
a huge topic right now, whetherthey're using AI to record them or
actually create the minutes so it'sinteresting to see their perspective.
I've always seen a CC as a leaderin the space for inhouse council.
I can't really think of another one thathas the volume of members and resources.
They've always been up to date intheir thinking about emerging issues.
(03:40):
Community here is great.
So coming outta Nashville last year, Ithought it'd be hard to top, but I think
we might have here in Philadelphia now.
I, like for me, was participating inthe rise and Run to the steps of the
rocky statue this morning at Sunrise.
I think we had close toa hundred people there.
Everybody was excited about it.
It was a wonderful community.
Everybody wanted to be there and wehad great conversations along the way.
(04:03):
A lot of fun.
We're a legal services providerand we serve corporations and law
firms at conferences like this,though our favorite thing to do.
It's just to build connections andfacilitate connections among our peers.
So here, making introductions toother corporate council contacts
they may learn from or expandtheir network and share ideas.
(04:25):
Sometimes career opportunities just buildthe community that makes a CC so great.
It's the largest gatheringin-house council in the world.
What really makes it unique is thelevel of the educational tracks as
well as the sense that people getwhen they get here and they realize
(04:46):
they're not just an island on theirown in their legal department.
They're part of a much larger community.
And to see that cometogether is really wonderful.
I'm speaking this year,so I'm very excited.
We've got a panel onnonprofit advocacy tomorrow.
My objective when I come to a CC annualmeeting is really about networking.
(05:07):
It's getting to see my clients,meeting other in-house lawyers
at nonprofits, and just reallyenjoying that networking experience.
My panel is about why nonprofitsshould be engaged in advocacy.
And hover some topics that in-houselawyers will need to think about if
their organizations want to lobby.
(05:28):
For example, the regulationsthat apply to their activities
as tax exempt organizations andunder lobbying disclosure laws.
So I am hearing a lot abouthow can we move faster with
everything that's available to us?
How do we make decisions faster?
How do we make decisions better?
(05:50):
And how do we start leveraging thetechnologies that are available
to us in a safe and smart way?
That's the thing that keepscoming up in my discussions.
You have to be intentional about it.
They have to really be strategic.
You have to listen a lot to your clients.
What are they looking for?
In our firm, we have an innovationcouncil where we meet and share ideas,
(06:14):
and I think that is really critical.
That's how we come up withideas, so I think anything
that makes their life easier.
I'm a former inhouse council myself,and I remember anything that.
My outside counsel could do to help makemy job easy, help make me more efficient,
help make me deliver better service tomy client is what they're looking for.
Nowadays a hugely disruptiveforce is the question about ai.
(06:39):
What can AI do to enhance our practiceto help us do better as attorneys?
That's gonna be where a lot ofthe focus is for the future.
We run at dram, a full stack legalprocurement platform, and one of
the hardest saves for these buyers,GCs in-house legal teams, even law
firms who are looking for tools,is to figure out what's out there.
(07:01):
That's one of the biggest challengesis just to understand with all
the noise, what solutions areactually doing the things that
lawyers and legal professionalscare about at a use case level by
industry, and really to understandhow their peers at got technology.
Our platform does a lot of that and thenties that all into the RP process because
if you understand what other folks areusing, and what you are using, you can
(07:25):
run a more efficient RP process to selectgenders that work with your stack and work
with the things that you're considering.
The objective is to have apresence, answer questions,
network, and meet new people.
Right now at the patent office, there'sa lot of uncertainty with regards
to IPRs and when it comes to patentlitigation over the last few years, IPRs
(07:46):
on the defense side have been a veryreliable tool for ending lawsuits early.
And now the new administration director,he's taken a very aggressive stance in
the pro patent owner direction, whichis something we haven't seen since the
inception of IPRs back in 2013, andthere's a lot of uncertainty of whether or
(08:07):
not there's still an effective tool, andI think that's probably a challenge for
any in-house lawyer facing a new lawsuit.
With the high cost of corporate counseland legal professionals, automating
and improving contract managementand those complex processes for legal
professional is key to efficiency and costsavings in corporate legal departments.
(08:30):
As one of the founders andoriginators of CLM contract software.
We've seen the market evolve stand outon the backs of great innovations and
computers and recently with artificialintelligence where it allows technology
to think closer to how a human maythink with associated patterns.
(08:51):
Specifically in contract reviewclauses of how a senior council have
reviewed a clause and how they madedecisions in the company to either
accept, reject, or redline theclause based on an organization's
preference or legal playbook.
And AI now can capture these patterns,these correlations, and have a machine
look at clauses, recognize them, andthen make similar decisions to these
(09:14):
senior and experienced professionals.
And as they retire or leave the company,the knowledge can stay within the
software for organizations to leveragebetter and faster decision making.
Things are moving muchquicker than before.
People are struggling to keepup with the pace of change.
So understanding what are thedifficulties, what are the.
(09:35):
Priorities and how they can bestrespond to the changing landscape.
It has been great.
It has exceeded my expectations.
I really like the sessions, but I've metsome very interesting people as well.
The session that I attended yesterdayon prompt engineering was really helpful
because AI has become a part of mydaily life, whether it's personal or
(09:55):
professional, so making sure that myprompts are correct, that I'm really
getting from the AI what I meet.
AI can really help in-house counselshift from knowing from the call
center to the profit center.
Asha.
Thank you.
Thank you,
Anthony.
Thank you so much.
Good.
Thanks, Ari.
Good to see you again,
Daniel.
Thank you.
Thank you,
Gabe.
Thank you.
(10:16):
Thank you, Ari.
Janice, thank you.
Thank you,
Jenny.
Thank you.
Yeah,
Jim, thank you.
You're welcome,
Josh.
Thank you.
Thank you,
Kyle.
Thank you.
Yeah, no problem.
Mark.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it,
Michael.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you,
Monica.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This is Ari Kaplan at the 2025 Associationof Corporate Counsel, annual Meeting,
(00:06):
Ashley Miller, the General CounselFinancial Services, north America and
Head of Legal Operations America's.
Capgemini.
Anthony Pegon, VP of Legal at t trx.
Daniel Bonner, director ofClient Solutions at Level Legal.
Gabe Gross, head of eDiscovery Dili Trust.
Janice Ryan.
I am a partner at Venable and I'm co-chairof our nonprofit organization's practice.
(00:30):
Jenny Turner of Go-to Market Strategyfor Corporate Legal at LexiNexis.
Jim McGrew, chief Client ServicesOfficer for Obree Deacons.
Joshua O'Malley, CEO andco-founder of here Lead.
Kyle Cones, shareholder at Brooks Cushman.
Mark Mista from Cobblestone Software andI'm the CEO and founder of Cobblestone.
(00:52):
Michael Loki, LexiNexis headof Vest and Operations for
the corporate legal business.
Monica Harris, senior EO Product Manager,American Arbitration Association.
What's the biggest challengeyou're hoping to find answers to
at this year's a CC annual meeting?
What are you hoping to learn atthis year's a CC annual meeting?
(01:12):
How would you describe the.
A CC annual meeting community.
What's unique about thea CC annual meeting?
What's your objective at thisyear's a CC annual meeting?
What questions are youhearing from in-house leaders
at this year's conference?
What's the secret to drivinginnovation to enhance client service?
(01:34):
How are in-house legal teams navigatingthe technology selection process?
What's the objective for law firms at the.
C, annual meeting.
Why is contract management soimportant for in-house leaders?
What have you found most interestingat this year's a CC annual meeting?
(01:55):
How are you enjoying yourfirst annual meeting?
I'm looking forward to seeing some ofthe progression in AI for contracting
tools, particularly generativeAI around redlining, contract
summarization, and then also mixingin a bit of that deviation management.
One of the things that we're doinginternally at Capgemini is understanding
(02:16):
the pain points that exist, whattechnologies exist on the market,
what we can do internally, and tryingto create more of a foundational
collective inquiry as to how we canactually help solve those challenges.
As far as the technology itself isconcerned, obviously there's a lot
(02:36):
of concerns around privacy, securitybias, and that is really being handled
through our corporate frameworksaround responsible and ethics of ai.
That's something Capgemini has had inplace for the last two years, and we
need to be very mindful of how we'reusing it and be responsible in doing so.
(02:58):
The main thing that I want to takeaway from here is understanding
what emerging technologies peopleare actually using to enhance their
prior and, through the vendors.
I'm trying to learn a lotabout their technology.
I just came from the session onboard minutes and obviously AI is
(03:19):
a huge topic right now, whetherthey're using AI to record them or
actually create the minutes so it'sinteresting to see their perspective.
I've always seen a CC as a leaderin the space for inhouse council.
I can't really think of another one thathas the volume of members and resources.
They've always been up to date intheir thinking about emerging issues.
(03:40):
Community here is great.
So coming outta Nashville last year, Ithought it'd be hard to top, but I think
we might have here in Philadelphia now.
I, like for me, was participating inthe rise and Run to the steps of the
rocky statue this morning at Sunrise.
I think we had close toa hundred people there.
Everybody was excited about it.
It was a wonderful community.
Everybody wanted to be there and wehad great conversations along the way.
(04:03):
A lot of fun.
We're a legal services providerand we serve corporations and law
firms at conferences like this,though our favorite thing to do.
It's just to build connections andfacilitate connections among our peers.
So here, making introductions toother corporate council contacts
they may learn from or expandtheir network and share ideas.
(04:25):
Sometimes career opportunities just buildthe community that makes a CC so great.
It's the largest gatheringin-house council in the world.
What really makes it unique is thelevel of the educational tracks as
well as the sense that people getwhen they get here and they realize
(04:46):
they're not just an island on theirown in their legal department.
They're part of a much larger community.
And to see that cometogether is really wonderful.
I'm speaking this year,so I'm very excited.
We've got a panel onnonprofit advocacy tomorrow.
My objective when I come to a CC annualmeeting is really about networking.
(05:07):
It's getting to see my clients,meeting other in-house lawyers
at nonprofits, and just reallyenjoying that networking experience.
My panel is about why nonprofitsshould be engaged in advocacy.
And hover some topics that in-houselawyers will need to think about if
their organizations want to lobby.
(05:28):
For example, the regulationsthat apply to their activities
as tax exempt organizations andunder lobbying disclosure laws.
So I am hearing a lot abouthow can we move faster with
everything that's available to us?
How do we make decisions faster?
How do we make decisions better?
(05:50):
And how do we start leveraging thetechnologies that are available
to us in a safe and smart way?
That's the thing that keepscoming up in my discussions.
You have to be intentional about it.
They have to really be strategic.
You have to listen a lot to your clients.
What are they looking for?
In our firm, we have an innovationcouncil where we meet and share ideas,
(06:14):
and I think that is really critical.
That's how we come up withideas, so I think anything
that makes their life easier.
I'm a former inhouse council myself,and I remember anything that.
My outside counsel could do to help makemy job easy, help make me more efficient,
help make me deliver better service tomy client is what they're looking for.
Nowadays a hugely disruptiveforce is the question about ai.
(06:39):
What can AI do to enhance our practiceto help us do better as attorneys?
That's gonna be where a lot ofthe focus is for the future.
We run at dram, a full stack legalprocurement platform, and one of
the hardest saves for these buyers,GCs in-house legal teams, even law
firms who are looking for tools,is to figure out what's out there.
(07:01):
That's one of the biggest challengesis just to understand with all
the noise, what solutions areactually doing the things that
lawyers and legal professionalscare about at a use case level by
industry, and really to understandhow their peers at got technology.
Our platform does a lot of that and thenties that all into the RP process because
if you understand what other folks areusing, and what you are using, you can
(07:25):
run a more efficient RP process to selectgenders that work with your stack and work
with the things that you're considering.
The objective is to have apresence, answer questions,
network, and meet new people.
Right now at the patent office, there'sa lot of uncertainty with regards
to IPRs and when it comes to patentlitigation over the last few years, IPRs
(07:46):
on the defense side have been a veryreliable tool for ending lawsuits early.
And now the new administration director,he's taken a very aggressive stance in
the pro patent owner direction, whichis something we haven't seen since the
inception of IPRs back in 2013, andthere's a lot of uncertainty of whether or
(08:07):
not there's still an effective tool, andI think that's probably a challenge for
any in-house lawyer facing a new lawsuit.
With the high cost of corporate counseland legal professionals, automating
and improving contract managementand those complex processes for legal
professional is key to efficiency and costsavings in corporate legal departments.
(08:30):
As one of the founders andoriginators of CLM contract software.
We've seen the market evolve stand outon the backs of great innovations and
computers and recently with artificialintelligence where it allows technology
to think closer to how a human maythink with associated patterns.
(08:51):
Specifically in contract reviewclauses of how a senior council have
reviewed a clause and how they madedecisions in the company to either
accept, reject, or redline theclause based on an organization's
preference or legal playbook.
And AI now can capture these patterns,these correlations, and have a machine
look at clauses, recognize them, andthen make similar decisions to these
(09:14):
senior and experienced professionals.
And as they retire or leave the company,the knowledge can stay within the
software for organizations to leveragebetter and faster decision making.
Things are moving muchquicker than before.
People are struggling to keepup with the pace of change.
So understanding what are thedifficulties, what are the.
(09:35):
Priorities and how they can bestrespond to the changing landscape.
It has been great.
It has exceeded my expectations.
I really like the sessions, but I've metsome very interesting people as well.
The session that I attended yesterdayon prompt engineering was really helpful
because AI has become a part of mydaily life, whether it's personal or
(09:55):
professional, so making sure that myprompts are correct, that I'm really
getting from the AI what I meet.
AI can really help in-house counselshift from knowing from the call
center to the profit center.
Asha.
Thank you.
Thank you,
Anthony.
Thank you so much.
Good.
Thanks, Ari.
Good to see you again,
Daniel.
Thank you.
Thank you,
Gabe.
Thank you.
(10:16):
Thank you, Ari.
Janice, thank you.
Thank you,
Jenny.
Thank you.
Yeah,
Jim, thank you.
You're welcome,
Josh.
Thank you.
Thank you,
Kyle.
Thank you.
Yeah, no problem.
Mark.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it,
Michael.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you,
Monica.
Thank you.
Thank you.
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