The General Counsel Virtual Week 2020, organized by The Economist Events, was a premier online conference held from November 2nd to 5th, 2020. This event brought together legal professionals to discuss the evolving role of general counsel in the face of unprecedented challenges.
Key topics included digital transformation, corporate ethics, and building resilient legal teams. Special emphasis was placed on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring how it reshaped corporate agendas and the legal landscape.
The virtual format facilitated networking among over 500 general counsel, C-suite executives, and senior legal professionals from diverse industries. Attendees had access to focused sessions on legal strategy and operations, as well as VIP interviews delving into niche legal topics.
This event was ideal for general counsel, chief legal officers, and senior corporate counsel seeking insights into adapting to the new normal and enhancing their legal teams' effectiveness.
Speakers(18)
Andreas Bohrer
Group General Counsel and Company Secretary at Lonza Group AG
Andreas Bohrer serves as group general counsel and company secretary of Lonza, a Switzerland-headquartered company with dual listing and operations globally. He is in charge of legal, compliance, and intellectual property, as well as environment, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability, insurance management, and the enterprise risk management process for Lonza Group globally.
Andrew Palmer
Executive Editor at The Economist
Andrew Palmer is the executive editor of The Economist. He was formerly business affairs editor, head of the data team, Americas editor, finance editor, and banking correspondent, having joined The Economist as management correspondent in February 2007.
Bill Deckelman
Executive Vice-President and General Counsel at DXC Technology
Bill Deckelman has been executive vice-president and general counsel of DXC Technology Company, a global provider of IT services based in Virginia, since its formation in 2017 through the merger of CSC and the enterprise-services business of HPE. He joined CSC as vice-president and general counsel in 2008.
Caroline Tsai
Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary at Western Union
Caroline Tsai is responsible for the overall strategic leadership and oversight of Western Union’s global legal affairs and corporate secretarial functions. She also oversees the global public policy team, ethics, and privacy functions.
Clare Wardle
General Counsel and Company Secretary at Coca-Cola European Partners
Clare Wardle has international experience in risk, governance, mergers and acquisitions, competition, and compliance. She has been general counsel and company secretary of Coca-Cola European Partners since 2016. Before this, she was group general counsel at Kingfisher, Europe's largest home-improvement retail group.
David Fein
Group General Counsel at Standard Chartered
David Fein oversees Standard Chartered’s legal, group corporate secretariat, and shared investigative services functions, and is a member of the bank’s management team. Before joining Standard Chartered, he was United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Prior to this, he worked at the law firm of Wiggin and Dana, taught at Yale Law School, served as Associate White House Counsel under President Clinton, and was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Fein serves as chair of Seeing is Believing, Standard Chartered’s global initiative to tackle avoidable blindness.
Guy Stern
Chief Executive and Co-Founder at Legal Connection
Guy Stern works at the intersection of law, technology, and access to justice. He created a technology platform called Legal Connection, which helps legal teams communicate and collaborate with each other and their clients as they transition into the future of work.
Liam Brown
Chairman and Chief Executive at Elevate
Liam Brown helps general counsel and law-firm leaders improve effectiveness and efficiency. In 2011, he launched Elevate to provide consulting, technology, and services to law departments and law firms. Mr. Brown was previously founder, president, and chief executive of Integreon, a global legal-process outsourcing company.
Marco Kerschen
General Counsel, International at Walgreens Boots Alliance
Marco Kerschen is the general counsel for WBA’s international business, overseeing the company's global pharmaceutical wholesale and international retail pharmaceutical businesses, as well as the global consumer brands division.
Mathias Strasser
Chief Executive at Scissero
Mathias Strasser is chief executive of WallStreetDocs (WSD) and an expert in the area of legal document automation. He currently oversees the development of Scissero, a next-generation legal AI platform designed to assist with large-scale repapering exercises and automatic markups of routine legal documents.
Matthew Valencia
Special Assignments Editor at The Economist
Matthew Valencia joined The Economist in 1995 and has held various roles, including banking correspondent and editor of the business pages. He currently focuses on features, investigations, and other special assignments.
Matthieu Favas
Finance Correspondent at The Economist
Matthieu Favas covers finance with a global remit, including banking, insurance, fintech, and private assets. He also writes about business issues, farming, agricultural commodities, and the food system.
Richard Mabey
Co-Founder and Chief Executive at Juro
Richard Mabey is chief executive and co-founder of Juro, the contract collaboration platform backed by Union Square Ventures, Point Nine Capital, and the founders of TransferWise, Gumtree, and Indeed. Mr. Mabey trained as a corporate lawyer with Freshfields and worked with LegalZoom on its European product.
Sandie Okoro
Senior Vice-President and Group General Counsel at World Bank
Sandie Okoro is the principal advisor and spokesperson on legal matters for the World Bank, and is the first British national and the first black woman to hold her role. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was general counsel for HSBC Global Asset Management, deputy general counsel of HSBC retail banking and wealth management, and global general counsel at Barings. Ms. Okoro is an ardent defender and champion of women's empowerment, gender equality, and justice for all.
Sarah Woodhouse
General Counsel, Europe and Global General Counsel, Food and Refreshment at Unilever
Sarah Woodhouse advises on all strategic aspects of Unilever’s food and refreshment division, from innovation projects to acquisitions and disposals, supply chain, marketing, intellectual property, and research and development.
Shana Simmons
General Counsel at Everlaw
As general counsel of Everlaw, Shana Simmons oversees legal issues across the company. Previously, she was head of Google’s cloud go-to-market legal team, guiding Google Cloud’s growth and success in new markets worldwide.
Simon Croxford
General Counsel, UBS Global Investment Bank and UBS Group EMEA at UBS
Based in London, Simon Croxford serves as general counsel for UBS Investment Bank globally and for UBS Group across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. He is a member of the IB and Legal Department executive committees.
Wayne Spillett
Head of Legal, Commercial Operations at Vodafone
Wayne Spillett leads legal teams at Vodafone Group responsible for managing legal risk in various areas, including brand, partnerships, consumer services, and strategy. He is also implementing a transformation programme to drive adaptable, lean, and digital behaviours within the legal teams.
Event Details
- Date
- November 9-13, 2020
- 5 days
- Location
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Audience
- General counsel, chief legal officers, senior corporate counsel, legal-affairs directors, heads of legal, partners, advisers, consultants
- Attendees
- Over 500 attendees