In-House Outliers

Jo Vong, Legal Operations Manager at Plaid, joins Alex Kelly this week to discuss the evolution of legal technology and Jo’s career journey in the field of legal operations. Jo also shared insights into the importance of viewing mistakes as opportunities for personal grow.

Meyling Ly Ortiz, Managing Counsel of Labor & Employment at Toyota Motor North America, joins Alex Kelly this week to discuss the importance of developing true connections with colleagues, and how to effectively rise to meet daunting professional challenges. Meyling also touched on the impact that her mentors had on her own professional journey, and the path she followed to get where she is to...

Letitia Haynes, Manager of Legal Operations & Employment Practices at Cox Media Group, joins Alex Kelly this week for a conversation about the importance of good leadership, and why discovering the right work-life balance for you is key to finding happiness in the workplace. Letitia also shared insights into what she learned during her own career journey.

Niamh Casey, Manager of Legal Operations at Checkout.com, joins Alex this week to discuss the importance of building a professional network, and how mentors can help you discover your full potential. Niamh also shared insights into the traits that make for a great leader in the workplace.

Laurie Ehrlich, Chief Commercial Counsel at Datadog, joins Alex this week to discuss how the prospect of tackling dynamic new challenges attracted her to her current career path. During their conversation, Laurie also touched on how she meaningfully connects with her team, and what makes for an effective manager and leader.

Tara Young, Deputy General Counsel at Plus Power, joins Alex this week to share some insights into her professional journey and the roles that ultimately led her to becoming an experienced in-house leader. Tara also imparts her advice on skillsets she acquired that were particularly beneficial in helping to level up her career.

Susan Packal, Founder and Principal at High Desert Legal Ops, joins Alex for a conversation about the keys to being an effective leader and creating a strong team in the Legal Operations space. During the discussion, Susan also talked about the career path that led her from working in Human Resources to becoming a Legal Operations thought leader.

Nicole Clark, Co-Founder and CEO of Trellis, joins Alex this week to discuss how Trellis got its start, and some of the reasons that law firms are hesitant to adopt new legal technologies. Nicole also offers advice for those on the fence about transitioning careers, and reflects on the growth and challenges she’s experienced during her professional journey.

Eric Ortman, Senior Director of Legal Operations at BeiGene, joins Alex this week to discuss how legal operations can make a meaningful difference in the way organizations deliver life-changing products. During their conversation, they also touch on Eric’s early career path, and detail what it was like to work in the legal operations space when it was still in its infancy.

Kathrin Veith, Manager of Legal Spend at Lufthansa, joins Alex this week to discuss her professional transition from online sales to legal operations, the impact of mentors on her career development, and the ramifications of remote work on the workplace.

Charlotte Smith, Director of Legal Optimization at Level7 Legal, joins Brightflag's Alex Kelly this week to discuss the early career transitions that led her to where she is today, and the keys to developing a successful workplace culture.

Sheena Ferrari, Director of Legal Operations at Zendesk, joins Alex this week to discuss her career journey, the role of legal operations during uncertain financial times, and the importance of career agility and leaning on professional mentors.

In the first episode of the new year, Alex is joined by Brightflag’s very own Chief Customer Officer, Kevin Cohn, to discuss his predictions for 2023.

Stephanie Lamoureaux, Senior Director of Legal Operations at Live Nation joins Alex this week to discuss the importance of becoming a generalist in legal operations. Building transferable skills, and gaining exposure to other areas of the business in an intentional way.

Christine Uri, CLO, GC, and CSO at ENGIE Impact, joins Alex this week to discuss how to be a proactive business partner and advocate for your budget. They also chat about how a sustainability mission can help to avoid burnout.

Jessica Vander Ploeg, Senior Director of Legal Operations at Micro Focus joins Alex this week to discuss the benefits of working and learning in an advanced legal ops department and the importance of maintaining a positive mindset.

Elizabeth Miller, VP and Head of Legal Operations at Marqeta joins Alex this week to discuss why her finance skills and inquisitive mindset have been an asset in her legal operations career.

Tommie Ferreira, Director of Legal Operations at Peleton joins Alex on the podcast this week where they discuss her journey from paralegal to legal ops leader throughout her time at HBO, AMC, Rakuten, and Peloton and the lessons learned along the way.

Rosella Tibig, Operations Expert and CAPM at SAP, joins Alex this week to discuss her long career at SAP, the importance of empathy in legal ops, and how her experience working with law firms helped her to understand how best to work with Outside Counsel.

Ken Callander, Managing Principal at Value Strategies, joins Alex this week to discuss the options available to legal teams looking to transition away from hourly billing.

Megan Ostling, Legal Operations Manager at iManage joins Alex this week to discuss how the path to legal operations isn't always a straight line, and how her career path began with sports law.

John Elliott, Legal Operations and Technology Manager at Netflix joins Alex this week to discuss the importance of relationships, open communication, and problem identification when working in a fast-paced business.

Adrienne Schaal, Director of Legal Operations at TIBCO, now Cloud Software Group, joins Alex to discuss the unconventional way she found herself in Legal Operations at GE and the differences between working on small vs large legal ops teams. 

Alex is re-joined by our first ever In-House Outliers Guest, Stephanie Corey, CEO & Co Founder of UpLevel Ops. They chat about the return of in-person work, why more in-house legal teams are focusing on operations and how to build a winning business case for scaling your legal department

In this episode, Alex chats with Matilde Montanari, Legal Operations Officer @TomTom. Matilde discusses her path from lawyer to legal ops officer and the shift in mindset she had to take when she made the switch. She also gives great advice to any lawyers who want to make the same career transition. Liked what you heard on today’s episode? Connect with Alex<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/a...