The Abstract – Details, episodes & analysis

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 offering sustainability solutions to her corporate clients to explain how GCs can advocate for ESG to fellow executives, why ESG is great for the bottom line, and why, as she puts it, “ESG is the new privacy.”

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-70

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
What are sustainability solutions?: 4:03
The difference between Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental, Social, and Governance: 7:36
Why she decided to launch a consulting company?: 10:09
Why should ESG matter to in-house counsels?: 11:59
Explaining why “ESG is the new privacy:” 15:28
How general counsels can advocate for adopting ESG practices: 20:11
Is ESG relevant at the board level?: 24:40
Why ESG has become politicized in the United States: 26:52
What ESG for In-house Counsel offers: 30:43
How to advocate for ESG at your company: 33:50
Rapid-fire questions: 36:50
Book recommendations: 38:29
What Christine wishes she’d known as a young lawyer: 40:02

Connect with us:
Christine Uri - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineuri/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

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-house counsel, moving beyond the GC role, and opening his company’s first office in Mexico City.

Listen as Manuel offers tips for lawyers who want to move into business roles, why it’s important to explore new and different opportunities, the traits that lawyers and software engineers share in common, and more.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-69

Topics:

Introduction: 0:00
Why did you decide to practice law in United States?: 2:18
Gravitating towards in-house legal: 5:10
Feeling ready to lead a legal team: 7:32
Becoming General Manager at BetterCloud: 11:35
Shifting your mindset from legal to business: 13:43
Working with software engineers: 15:23
Transitioning from advisor to doer: 18:31
How has working as GM changed your relationship with the executive team?: 21:57
Leading a team through its maturation process: 24:19
Investing in company culture: 26:50
Tips for listeners thinking of taking a job abroad: 30:07
What’s next for Manuel: 32:12
Rapid-fire questions: 33:15
Book recommendations: 36:23
What Manuel wishes he’d known as a young lawyer: 38:50

Connect with us:
Manuel Martinez-Herrera - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuel-martinez-herrera-71a2a763/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

Where's the intersection in a career as a creative and as a lawyer? What stories would you tell if you were writing a play about your career in startup law? How do you go and convince some accomplished actors to sign up and perform it off-broadway?  

Join Sarah Feingold, the legal expert and playwright behind Dirty Legal Secrets: Based on True Startups—running Off-Broadway this October in New York City—as she shares her experience collecting and staging anonymous stories from startup lawyers that they can’t tell themselves. She leveraged her own experience as the first general counsel at start-ups Etsy and Vroom.   

Listen as Sarah discusses how she leveraged her own experience as the first general counsel at start-ups Etsy and Vroom to tell other lawyers’ brave legal stories, how to balance your creative pursuits with legal work, how to expand beyond in-house to advise, teach, and join boards, and much more.  

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-60  

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Becoming Etsy’s first lawyer (and 17th hire): 2:48
Transitioning to General Counsel at Vroom: 6:57
Writing a play: 9:18
Getting started on your first draft: 13:59
Finding actors and producing your own play: 16:52
Learning to promote yourself after a career in legal: 19:54
Staging Dirty Legal Secrets: 21:37
Keeping your creative spirit alive while working full-time: 25:28
Leaning into a “portfolio” career: 28:20
Favorite part of your day and pet peeves: 30:13
Book recommendations: 31:24
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 33:21

Cellunova Productions presents Dirty Legal Secrets  
October 17-27, NYC
Buy tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dirty-legal-secrets-tickets-1001791825317  

Connect with us:
Sarah Feingold: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahfeingold/  
Tyler Finn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft  

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.  

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you turn your passion for sports into a career? What does it take to advise pro athletes and celebrities on investments and deals? And how can you start to angel invest yourself?

Sunjay Mathews, investor, advisor, and dealmaker in the sports and media sector, was able to make the leap from in-house counsel at FanDuel and DAZN, the biggest names in sports betting and streaming, into a legal and business consulting powerhouse. With his deep understanding of the complex (and often outdated) regulations surrounding sports betting, he began leading at the intersection of crypto and athletics, advising on sports partnerships with FTX and investing in blockchain-reliant companies like BetDex, and joining the board of tixbase.

Listen as Sunjay shares lessons from his career at the cutting edge of burgeoning industries, dealmaking with pro athletes, getting started as an angel investor, and more.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-59

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Transitioning from law associate to sports legal advisor at FanDuel: 3:40
Dealing with anachronistic regulations in the sports betting industry: 6:47
Moving into streaming at DAZN: 10:39
Getting a start as an independent advisor: 21:47
Dealmaking with pro athletes and celebrities: 26:08
Getting started as an angel investor: 34:12
Consulting on sports marketing with FTX and getting involved with crypto: 38:06
Investing and advising companies like BetDEX, tixbase, and Just Women’s Sports: 42:20
Uplifting Just Women’s Sports: 49:35
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 57:11

Connect with us:
Sunjay Mathews: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunjay-mathews-b227a723/
Tyler Finn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.
Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How should General Counsel and legal teams be leveraging generative AI? How do you get started on your AI journey and what mistakes should you avoid? Where is the AI revolution heading?

Join Cecilia Ziniti, Founder and CEO of GC AI, as she discusses how and why she made the leap from working as a corporate lawyer to creating a generative AI product specifically designed for in-house counsel. Find out how her years leading legal for AI-powered tech companies like Replit, Anki, and Cruise (and serving as lead counsel on Amazon’s Alexa) prepared her to create a company offering a groundbreaking product that serves the various needs of lawyers with precision and care.

Listen as Cecilia discusses the similarities between lawyers and large language models, how to begin experimenting with generative AI with the goal of making both your professional and personal life smoother, why you can’t let others tell you you’re “just” a lawyer, and why legal professionals should always use emojis.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-58

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Leading legal at Replit: 2:52
Why lawyers should use emojis: 5:40
Starting a business after gaining extensive experience working with AI: 13:00
Considering how GCs should leverage AI: 22:18
Hiring legal teams in the age of AI: 39:03
Teaching a class on AI at Stanford University: 47:35
Book Recommendations: 51:52
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 55:11

Connect with us:
Cecilia Ziniti - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceciliaziniti/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.
Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

Join Jules Polonetsky, CEO and Founder of the Future of Privacy Forum, as he shares lessons he learned from the front lines of ad tech starting in the early 1990s. Starting his career in politics as a New York assemblyman and working his way into consumer protection-focused public roles, he became one of the first chief privacy officers in the tech industry at companies like DoubleClick and AOL at a crucial moment in the history of online privacy. Now his think tank connects policymakers with corporations, and helps both sides answer tough questions about privacy and data.

Join Jules Polonetsky, CEO and Founder of the Future of Privacy Forum, as he shares lessons he learned from the front lines of ad tech starting in the early 1990s. Starting his career in politics as a New York assemblyman and working his way into consumer protection-focused public roles, he became one of the first chief privacy officers in the tech industry at companies like DoubleClick and AOL at a crucial moment in the history of online privacy. Now his think tank connects policymakers with corporations and helps both sides answer tough questions about privacy and data.

Listen as Jules discusses his uniquely-positioned understanding of privacy issues, the future of AI governance and the chief privacy officer role, advice to lawyers who want to move into the privacy space, and much more.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-57

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Getting a start in New York politics: 1:57
Running for elected office: 11:46
Taking one of the first Chief Privacy Officer roles in the industry at DoubleClick: 16:43
Considering the necessary training to be successful in privacy: 24:28
Founding the Future of Privacy Forum: 32:02
Questioning the death of the Chief Privacy Officer role: 44:42
Favorite part of your day-to-day work and professional pet peeves: 51:54
Book recommendations: 56:41
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 1:00:01

Connect with us:
Jules Polonetsky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julespolonetsky/
Tyler Finn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

Can playing cards teach you to be a better lawyer? How do you make it in Silicon Valley without the traditional big law firm experience? And how do you make the jump to public company general counsel?

Join Andrew Woods, General Counsel at PubMatic, as he discusses the unique path he forged from professional poker player to legal star. From founding a think tank at Harvard focused on poker and law to breaking into tech and privacy as Director of Legal and Associate Counsel at Twitter, Andrew relies on his belief in the value of autonomy, mastery, and significance to guide him towards work that makes him happiest.

Listen as Andrew discusses his love for game theory, landing a fulfilling job leading legal at a tech company, hiring lawyers based on their ambitions instead of their experience, and more.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-56

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Starting your career as a professional poker player: 1:33
Comparing poker skills with skills required to succeed as general counsel: 6:10
Taking an unorthodox path after law school: 13:02
Transitioning to in-house roles in tech: 17:12
Moving away from skill questions in the hiring process: 22:52
Developing mastery over fields like privacy and ad tech: 29:05
Breaking into privacy: 33:18
Considering the future of AI governance from a privacy perspective: 36:37
Making the jump to Twitter and PubMatic: 39:21
Book recommendations: 54:23
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 57:23
Connect with us:
Andrew Woods - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmichaelwoods/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you make the leap from lawyer to founder? How do you craft the perfect pitch? What does it take to fundraise effectively? And how far will your legal know-how take you when you’re accountable for every function in the business?

Join Aaron Gregory, Co-founder and CEO of Upwardli, as he shares his journey from general counsel to start-up leader. Starting his career in the highly regulated telecom and fintech industries, Aaron relied on lessons he learned while earning his JD-MBA to start a company that solves the challenges of credit invisibility for more than 50 million people in the United States.

Listen as Aaron discusses how he took on the challenges that all first-time founders face–like pitching to VCs, fundraising, and growing into the CEO role—and shifted his mindset from that of a risk-conscious legal leader to a business-focused operator.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-55

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Forging a career in highly regulated legal areas: 1:25
Advice to law students considering a JD-MBA: 7:20
Teaching yourself to become comfortable with uncertainty: 9:57
Leaving Remitly right before it went public to found a start-up: 15:10
Unpacking Upwardli: 18:42
Bringing your business to a start-up accelerator: 22:26
Fundraising for your start-up: 27:05
Making an effective pitch: 33:15
Growing into the CEO role: 36:16
Building Upwardli in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 44:43
Bonus questions: 48:48
Book recommendations: 51:29
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 53:02

Connect with us:
Aaron Gregory - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amgregory/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How can C-suite leaders take on challenging political issues that affect their company? How do you pursue a path of professional growth at a company over the course of a decade? What's required for taking on wide-ranging responsibilities at the executive level?

Join Kristin Sverchek, President of Lyft, as she discusses how she joined a small start-up as their first general counsel and grew with it as it transformed into a global ride-sharing powerhouse with a multi-billion dollar IPO.

Listen as she discusses the unexpected management challenges she faced and conquered internally as her role expanded beyond legal, as well as the external challenges of taking strong stances to protect her drivers in the face of adverse political climates. She also offers advice for lawyers looking to expand beyond the legal function and shares stories about innovating in industries where regulations haven’t been updated in over a century.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-54

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Finding your way to Lyft: 3:51
Taking on your first GC role at Lyft: 6:23
Building a legal team at a rapidly growing start-up: 8:23
Helping lead the IPO process: 10:48
Comparing work at public and private companies: 14:39
Dealing with the challenges of executive roles: 17:20
Transitioning into the President of Business Affairs role: 21:45
Working with an executive coach during major career transitions: 26:08
Advice to lawyers who want to take on GC “plus” roles: 27:56
Defining and living your values at Lyft: 30:30
Taking on the role of President: 35:58
Departing Lyft: 38:42
Book recommendation: 45:52
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 46:58

Connect with us:
Kristin Sverchek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinsverchek/
Tyler Finn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

What do you need to know if you're ready to launch a government affairs strategy? How do you find the right lobbyist? And how has lobbying for tech companies changed over the last decade?

Join Matt Tanielian, Co-founder of Franklin Square Group, a bipartisan government relations, as he shares key insights from his decades of experience advocating for tech companies and bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and Washington. D.C. From advising senators on foundation internet legislation like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Microsoft antitrust investigation, to lobbying for Apple as it launched its first iPhone in 2008, Matt has been instrumental to tech firms as they navigate the intricacies of Capitol Hill.

Listen as Matt discusses how to work with politicians and government relations consultants, the value of joining coalitions and trade associations, the future of AI policy, and much more.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-53

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Attending law school in Washington, D.C.: 3:51
Working for a committee vs. working for a congressperson: 5:05
Questioning whether policy work requires a law degree: 7:12
Launching your own government relations firm: 10:17
Analyzing the evolving conversation around around tech in Washington: 13:15
Hiring your company’s first government relations consultant: 15:35
Joining and organizing coalitions and industry organizations: 20:58
Choosing who will represent your company in D.C.: 26:20
Avoiding common mistakes: 28:30
Envisioning the future of AI policy: 30:32
Advising companies during an election year: 34:42
Tracking the changing nature of lobbying: 36:09
Book recommendations: 38:14
Lobbying vs. government relations: 40:23
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 42:47

Connect with us:
Matt Tanielian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matttanielian/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.