I recently had the privilege of attending the Economist GC Summit in New York City where I spoke on a panel of experts from PayPal, eBay and FIS, about our predicted trends for 2024. From the conversations I was fortunate to share, both with my fellow panellists and many of the 450+ General Counsel in attendance at the Summit, it was clear that the potential impact of upcoming regulatory change and the importance of maintaining compliance are high on everyone’s business agenda. Here are just a few of my take-aways that from the Summit, from regulation and generative AI to the future of work.

1. Tackling Regulation with AI

It’s no secret that regulation is top of mind for many folks operating in the tech and AI industry. A key theme that emerged from the conference was how rapidly evolving regulations are anticipated to impact the day-to-day lives of employees across all industries. Many in-house legal teams are stretched thin, whether due to budget cuts, hiring freezes or unprecedented workloads, meaning that keeping up with these changing compliance responsibilities is not an easy task.

Clearly, the ability to respond proactively and agilely to evolving regulation is critical and comes from an in-house legal team’s ability to maintain complete oversight across their contract landscape at all times. Thinking back to a few examples from Luminance’s own customer base, we’ve seen how our AI-powered repository and powerful search functionality have proven essential to executives seeking to have complete visibility into their supply chains. For example, following the sudden introduction of sanctions in March 2022, IDEXX used Luminance to analyse 20,000 documents in just 20 minutes across their supply chain to identify any ties to recently sanctioned organisations. Having access to the right data at all times is essential for quickly responding to questions from executives and ensuring the company stays on the front foot.

2. The Impact of Generative AI

It’s incredible to think that we’re coming up to the one-year anniversary of when ChatGPT burst onto the scene and began the current wave of generative AI hype. Many folks are more excited than ever about the technology’s potential in the workplace – and understandably so!

It’s already transforming the way we diagnose illnesses and monitor supply chains. From my conversations with General Counsel, I picked up a few pieces of advice about generative AI that I would like to share. First, simply getting your hands on technology and experimenting with it is critical for lawyers to understand how AI can improve the way they work. I see this everyday with our customers. AI reduces the amount of labour-intensive work undertaken by in-house teams. Everything from assigning tasks in workflows and expediting contract review time to accelerating the commercial process. Secondly, we shouldn’t be afraid of generative AI, but we should be aware. We only need to look to recent headlines about ChatGPT making up case law to understand the dangers posed by this technology in the legal sector. That’s why it’s critical that lawyers are using analytical, what we like to call ‘legal-grade’, AI in their work.

3. The Future of Work

Another topical issue I picked up on during the Summit was the expectations of the incoming generation of lawyers for a technology-driven workplace. Having next-generation technology in place is viewed not just a nice to have, but as an absolute necessity for younger workers. There were also renewed conversations taking place about how to facilitate hybrid or flexible working models moving forwards. Whereas the private practice sector has sought to convince lawyers to return to the office, many organisations are continuing to implement flexible work, allowing their in-house counsel to be based in the office, at home or even abroad.

This is particularly interesting given the themes brought up at our panel at Legalweek this year. Jeannine Moran, Director of Legal and Compliance – Operations & Technology at Hitachi Vantara noted that “being able to talk about how and why we’re using AI is also something that makes it easy to identify those candidates who you know are going to be a good fit and bring something to the table, embracing AI.”

Particularly for the incoming generation of lawyers who have grown up in a digital age, having access to advanced technology that automates administrative tasks and facilitates focus on more sophisticated work will, as George Nino, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from Yokagawa pointed out, encourage more people to join and stay with the team: “If you have people reviewing NDAs day in and day out, naturally there is going to be burnout. So, you need to provide them with the tools they need and to show them that you are grateful for the work they do.” And I couldn’t agree more! Employees are keen to have the most advanced AI at their fingertips to take on the most pressing challenges of our time.

Overall, the conference provided an incredible launching pad for important conversations about regulation and the future of work and I’m excited to see how the legal sector transforms with the continued integration of AI.