Beyond Contracts: How In-House Legal Drives Better Business Decisions

The role of in-house legal has shifted. Reviewing contracts, approving HR decisions, and resolving disputes isn’t the job anymore — it’s helping the business make better strategic decisions across rising regulatory complexity, tightening commercial pressure, and new categories of enterprise risk like AI, privacy, supply chain, and reputation. The legal departments earning an earlier seat at the table have made that shift deliberately. They’ve moved beyond the transactional work to become genuine strategic partners — helping the organization navigate risk without slowing growth. Join us on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT as Jen DeMarco, Interim and Fractional General Counsel, walks through how legal leaders move from transactional gatekeeping to strategic business partnership — how to identify enterprise risk earlier across regulatory, commercial, and operational fronts, how to balance risk with business growth, and how to earn the trust that gets legal invited into decisions before the contract lands on the desk. What You’ll Learn: How to move legal from transactional gatekeeper to strategic business partner — including the specific behaviors and operating habits that signal the shift to your business stakeholders How to balance commercial objectives, regulatory obligations, and enterprise risk when the right answer isn’t a simple “yes” or “no” — and how to communicate that balance to the business How to identify enterprise risk earlier across an expanding surface, including newer categories like AI governance, data privacy, supply chain, and reputation that didn’t sit on legal’s desk five years ago How to earn an earlier seat at the strategic decision-making table — what business partners need to see from legal before they trust you with early involvement Practical frameworks for legal leaders navigating regulatory complexity while still enabling the business to move fast and grow Who Should Attend: This program is designed for general counsel, deputy general counsel, legal operations leaders, and members of corporate legal teams responsible for legal strategy, enterprise risk, or business partnering. It will be especially useful for in-house counsel working to move their function from transactional support to strategic business partnership, navigate increasing regulatory complexity while enabling commercial growth, or earn an earlier seat at the table on the decisions that shape the business. There is NO COST to attend this program! This program is FREE, thanks to our gracious sponsor, Axiom! If you can’t make it to the live program, the recording will be available for viewing via our paid CLE library- In-House Connect On-Demand.