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Artificial intelligence and its ability to mine through data has been presented to the legal industry as a miracle technology and one that will ultimately save time and money for in-house attorneys. However, at a panel at the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel's 2019 Corporate Counsel Symposium in Philadelphia this week, Craig Marvinney, an attorney and adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, said AI products are only as good as the information put into them.

Stephanie Fox, a senior director at LegalMation, said even though LegalMation uses AI, the company knows AI has its limits.

"We know that the machine itself is not smart enough to understand the legalese," Fox said.

Marvinney was also skeptical that AI will replace the jobs of attorneys en masse. He said AI can't tell what makes one case different from another and can't sit across from a witness to determine if he or she is lying. He cautioned general counsel who invest in AI to not have expectations of it doing more than it was created for.

"If we unreasonably rely upon artificial intelligence there will be a substantial loss," Marvinney said. "Make sure you understand what it is supposed to be doing. It's going to be giving information that still needs to be interpreted."

What are some areas surrounding artificial intelligence that concern you? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

What's Happening

Moving The Needle

Twenty-six in-house leaders have joined five law firms in the $5 million "Move the Needle Fund." The fund is aimed at creating a more diverse and inclusive legal profession.

Over the next five years the firms will work with Diversity Lab to establish "aggressive, measurable diversity goals" and "experiment with research-based data-driven ways to achieve" those goals. The companies and their in-house leaders will use their departments for the ideas that emerge from the lab.

"These are law firms that compete for business. These are not natural collaborators," Lora Blum, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of SurveyMonkey Inc., said in the announcement of the initiative. "A unique aspect of this is getting commitments from firms that normally would not work together."

Nissan's Fraud Settlement

Nissan Motor Co., its former chairman Carlos Ghosn, and former director and in-house attorney Greg Kelly agreed to pay a fine of $16.1 million to the SEC to settle fraud allegations.

Nissan agreed to pay $15 million to settle the claims, Ghosn agreed to pay $1 million and Kelly agreed to pay $100,000. They all came to the settlement without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations.

In addition to the fine, Kelly agreed to a five-year officer-and-director ban and a five-year suspension from practicing or appearing before the SEC.

The SEC claimed that Nissan's board allowed Ghosn to set individual director and executive compensation levels beginning in 2004. They claimed Kelly helped Ghosn hide more than $90 million from public disclosure while inflating his retirement allowance by $50 million. Kelly also allegedly played a part in using secret contracts and backdated letters to trick Nissan's chief financial officer, which resulted in the company issuing a misleading financial disclosure.

What I've Been Reading

What is the best way to get hired in-house while working at a law firm? According to an interview in National Law Review with Jaimala Pai, in-house counsel at Medtronic, the best way is to not be a generalist. "Really be specific about your area of expertise and call it out on your firm online biography, because I often look up firm biographies to understand experience," Pai said.

Courtroom experience and transparency are important qualities in outside counsel that in-house attorneys look for according to a report in World Intellectual Property Review. In-house attorneys from Qualcomm and Boehringer Ingelheim said at the AIPPI World Congress 2019 that they would not consider counsel who do not have some courtroom experience or knowledge of their emerging technologies.

Changes to anti-money laundering rules in Canada will require in-house counsel at financial businesses to make some internal changes, according to a report in Canadian Lawyer Magazine. One of the most significant changes involves filing a report of a suspicious transaction "as soon as reasonably practicable" rather than within 30 days. The report says that leaves room for interpretation which can present challenges for in-house counsel.

Don't Miss

Monday, Oct. 14 to Wednesday, Oct. 16 – The Minority Corporate Counsel Association will be hosting its Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference in New York at the New York Hilton Midtown. The MCCA will host a Diversity Gala on the last night of the conference at the American Museum of Natural History.

Wednesday, Oct. 16 to Friday, Oct. 18 – Corporate Counsel will be hosting the Women, Influence & Power In Law conference at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C. Speakers will include Lori Bennett, general counsel at Aetion Inc.; Donna Bucella, chief compliance officer at 7-Eleven Inc.; and Emelita Hernandez-Bravo, head of legal operations at Fitbit.

Thursday, Oct. 24 to Friday Oct. 25 – The 2019 TECHGC National Summit will be held at the New York Stock Exchange. Speakers will include Brian Brooks, chief legal officer at Coinbase; Amit Khanna, general counsel at Knotel; and Ileana Falticeni, general counsel at Good Data.

On The Move

✦ Natura Life + Science ✦ Gabriel García has been named the first general counsel of the California-based cannabis company. The move comes after the company announced in May it received $91 million in private funding and will be building a 250,000-square-foot facility. García previously worked at his own firm working mostly with cannabis clients.

✦ Entertainment Software Association ✦ Gina Vetere has been made the new general counsel of the association that puts on the E3 Expo. She takes the place of Stanley Louis-Pierre, who became the association's CEO in May. She had previously served as of counsel at Covington & Burling.

✦ Passage Bio ✦ Edgar Cale has been named the general counsel of the Philadelphia-based biotech startup. Cale previously worked in-house at GlaxoKlineSmith, where he most recently served as senior vice president of legal corporate projects.