The Abstract

How do you make the transition from IP lawyer to general counsel in a typical path? Help Adobe navigate a transition to the cloud, and then the AI era? And make time for your family through all the ups and downs? Join Dana Rao, former general counsel at Adobe and IP and Licensing expert at Microsoft, as he discusses how he capitalized on his electrical engineering background to skyrocket himself f...

How do you build a legal marketplace with more than 75,000 community members? Find the right investors to join you on the journey? And help the business navigate the inevitable pivots that will come along with its growth? Join Hannah Konitshek, COO and Founder of Legal.io, Business Operations and Strategy, as she dives deep into the business of legal tech, and how a relationship built during a hac...

How do you make the transition from federal prosecutor to security leader? Help secure some of the world's largest technology companies? And build yourself back up after being convicted by a federal jury for your company's handling of a data breach? Join Joe Sullivan, CEO of Joe Sullivan Security and the non-profit Ukraine Friends, as he reflects on the trial and sentencing he endured for a data b...

What role does integrity need to play in your company's culture? How can legal teams and corporate leaders foster it? And where do you get started if you want to write a book on it? Join Rob Chesnut, author of Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead an Ethical Revolution , as he discusses his path from prosecutor at the Department of Justice to tech industry legal leader at eBay, Chegg...

Why build a big tent community of in-house lawyers without restrictions on who can join? How do you manage the transition from in-house lawyer to founder? And can you keep space for your religious faith during the process? Join Shai Mehani, co-founder and CEO of In-House Connect, as he shares why he left his career as a corporate counsel behind to lead a thriving community of more than fifty thous...

What if you never really wanted or expected to become a lawyer? How do you navigate imposter syndrome? And where do you find meaning in your work? Join Ryan Nier, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Head of People at Nova Credit, as he shares his career path from being a self-taught computer programmer who founded his own start-up to a decade as a litigation associate at a global law fi...

Is it possible to carve out a meaningful career in law by following your passions? What's harder: building a non-profit or a business? What do lawyers have to learn from animators? Join Adam Stofsky, CEO of Briefly and founder of the New Media Advocacy Project, as he shares how he used high-production documentary video to advocate for human rights across the globe and started a company to help law...

What does 2025 hold for legal tech and the legal ops profession? Will legal ops ever become a standard part of every in-house legal team? Join us in this very special episode as Tyler invites Kevin Cohn, Chief Customer Officer at Brightflag, and Matt Wheatley, VP of Client Strategy at Priori, for a very special, no-holds-barred discussion about  legal operations in an ever-changing industry....

How do you build a fintech juggernaut and redefine how employees think about ownership in businesses, navigate regulatory roadblocks along the way, and build a global team to make it happen? Join April Lindauer, General Counsel at Carta, as she discusses her start-up’s tremendous journey from 200 employees to more than 2000, as the software platform that allows users to manage equity, build busine...

How do you advise founders and learn to speak their language? Build a thriving legal community in Europe? And navigate the ups and downs of starting your own business? Join Sarah Irwin, CEO and Founder of Irish Tech GC, as she discusses her career as a consultant for tech founders, adviser for GCs looking to build better relationships with their fellow executives, angel investor, and global legal...

How do you become a leader in the privacy space? Use video and content to make privacy and the profession more accessible? And define a whole new type of privacy role? Join Ron De Jesus, Field Chief Privacy Officer at Transcend, as he shares what it’s like to be the first in the compliance industry to take on his innovative new role leading dialogues and creating spaces for discussion about the fu...

How is the rise of AI going to affect the intellectual property field and patents? What are some common mistakes that GCs make when setting up a patent strategy? Or tips that our guest has learned from years as a patent examiner? Join Matt Veale, European Patent Attorney and UPC at PatSnap, as he leads us into this podcast’s first-ever deep dive into all things patents and IP, sharing expert advic...

How can general counsels and legal operations leaders work better together? How do you cultivate a high-performance culture across your legal team? And what makes for a thriving community of legal ops professionals? Join Steph Corey, CEO and Co-founder of UpLevel Ops and Link, the Legal Innovators Network, as she unpacks her career leading legal operations, starting at HP in the 90s, leading opera...

How do you help one of Silicon Valley's most iconic companies, Yahoo!, navigate years of change, stay engaged over almost two decades there, and make the move to health tech when you're ready for something new? Join Ron Bell, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at Collective Health, as he shares his journey from Chicago litigator and software programming hobbyist to in-house lawyer at some of t...

How are marketplaces for legal work transforming the way that we work and the way that we live, creating opportunities for a better match between what you need from work and the work that you do? Join Lawtrades co-founders Raad Ahmed and Ashish Walia, as they discuss their path from dissatisfied law school graduates to running a powerhouse legal services startup that links white collar freelancers...

What are the top books that every legal leader needs to read to succeed in the new year?   At the close of each episode, Tyler asks our guests what book they would recommend to our audience, and we’re kicking off 2025 with this year’s list of must-read books that you need to check out. Listen to hear titles that these CEOs, start-up founders, and GCs can’t live without.    Read deta...

What’s the best advice you can offer to young lawyers who are just starting their careers? What do you wish you’d known then that you know now? These are the questions we ask each of our guests at the end of every episode of The Abstract . Listen to some of our favorite answers from the legal leaders and C-suite executives who visited the podcast in 2024 and hear tips about trusting your gut, buil...

How do you avoid common mistakes in commercial contract negotiation? What about in drafting? And how can you get better at and find more joy in commercial contracting? Join Laura Frederick, Founder and CEO of How to Contract, as she goes deep on all things contracts—everything from how to avoid common mistakes to tips for supercharging your negotiating skills. Listen as Laura talks about her caree...

What do you need to know about managing government affairs for heavily regulated, high growth brands? Is it perhaps the most interesting part of a GC's job? And will it actually lead you to Washington D.C. or maybe other slightly less glamorous cities? Join Adam Greenberg, Advisor and Fractional General Counsel at APG Advising, as he shares lessons from years as top in-house counsel at healthcare...

What does a Data Protection Officer do? How is it different from your privacy counsel? And how might a DPO help your company with cutting-edge issues like regulations around facial recognition or biometrics? Join Paul Collier, data protection officer at The DPO Centre, as he shares how the skills he gained as a front-line police officer have helped him counsel clients on how to balance complex pri...

If you're in the C-Suite, what do you really need to know about ESG? Is ESG the new privacy? And should ESG really be so controversial? Join Christine Uri, founder of ESG for In-house Counsel, as she explains the importance of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) to both public and private companies in today’s global regulatory climate. Listen as Christine draws on more than a decade offeri...

What does a general manager role involve? How do you establish your company's first international office? And what skills from lawyering can you draw on to do it well? Join Manuel Martinez-Herrera, General Manager and General Counsel at BetterCloud, as he shares his journey from law school in Spain to offices in Argentina and the U.S., to earning an LL.M at Harvard, jumping from big law to in-hous...

Have you ever considered quitting your job outright because you felt like you were being pulled farther and farther away from your calling? And then finding your way back through a career change that's very different? Join Jasmine Singh, former Chief Legal and People Officer at Binti, as she shares lessons she learned after taking time away from the legal profession about how to recalibrate your c...

What is the transition like from government service to a C-suite leadership role at a cutting edge tech company? How are regulators thinking about crypto and other financial innovations? And is public service something that's still inspiring or something that we ought to aspire to? Join Heath Tarbert, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Corporate Affairs at Circle, as he draws on his extensive and pro...

What lessons from tennis can you apply to your day-to-day life? How do you build a career as a dealmaker working with high-profile talent? How has the entertainment industry, and what it needs from its lawyers, changed over the years? Join Peter Steckelman, Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at the Tennis Channel, as he shares stories from his uniquely wide-ranging career in enter...