Extract from Isha Marathe’s article “WIPL Day 1: How Legal Teams Are Adopting AI and Weathering Anti-DEI Lawsuits”
On Monday, the Women, Influence & Power in Law 2024 Conference kicked off in Chicago.
The event, hosted by ALM’s Corporate Counsel, is an opportunity for women working across legal teams in corporations ranging from nonprofits to Fortune 100 companies to network and connect. This year marked the largest WIPL yet—at nearly 900 in attendance.
From negotiations with outside counsel to creating career pathways throughout legal teams and deploying legal technology, the first day of the conference covered a gamut of top-of-mind topics for in-house legal teams today.
Below are the key tech-related takeaways from Day 1 of the WIPL conference:
Organizations More Likely to Follow the Money on Tech
The push-and-pull that lawyers—whether law firm or in-house—have faced with technology can be traced back to email. While lawyers often get a rap for being tech-averse, many are pushing for that to change. For instance, the American Bar Association and various state bar associations have advocated for more tech education and obligations to use tech when necessary. Additionally, younger attorneys and paralegals might also push higher-ups to invest in newer technologies.
Still, Jessica Nguyen, the deputy general counsel of artificial intelligence innovation and trust at Docusign, pointed out that the most powerful impetus for tech and generative AI adoption is likely to come from law firm customers.
