The L Suite (TechGC)

📸 A few favorite moments from last week’s 2025 VCGC Conference in Nashville! Highlights included: 🎤 A welcome reception and remarks from conference co-chairs Inga Goldbard, GC at GV (Google Ventures) and Livingston Miller, COO & GC at Initialized Capital. 🏛️ Mainstage sessions covering policy shifts, practical AI use cases, governance strategy, and fundraising in today’s market. 🍽️ Small group dinners and outings to build connections and community with peers in the moments in between. It’s always powerful to bring this group together--the learning and connections that happen beyond the mainstage are what make this community so special. Huge thanks again to our conference co-chairs Inga Goldbard and Livingston Miller and our conference committee: Lemuel Anaejionu, GC, Gigafund David Armstrong, GC, Foundation Capital Joanna Lin Black, GC, Madrona Lauren Crockett, GC & CCO, Polaris Partners Jason Doren, GC, ARCH Venture Partners Anthony Gin, GC, Upfront Ventures Michelle Silva Fernandes, VP of US Legal, Index Ventures And to all our speakers and to everyone who joined us! And to our ecosystem partners at Cooley LLP and Gunderson Dettmer, along with all of our sponsors: Alliant Insurance Services, Gibson Dunn, Goodwin, Kirkland & Ellis, Lowenstein Sandler LLP, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Proskauer Rose LLP, Richards, Layton & Finger, Ropes & Gray LLP, Sidley Austin LLP, SRS Acquiom, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

I was obsessed with the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team. I remember watching games wearing my airbrushed team roster t-shirt that I got from the Jersey shore boardwalk. Luckily for me, I have a new Dream Team to fawn over. On November 19, Marissa Comart of Reverb and I are co-chairing the The L Suite (TechGC)'s Legal Velocity Summit in New York and our mainstage speaker line-up is off-the-charts amazing. Discussing how leaders navigate the unknown, build resiliency, and lead forward in uncertain times (please say this in your head in an announcer's voice), we have: ⭐ Damien Atkins, CLO @ MrBeast ⭐ Lea Epstein, GC @ MyFitnessPal ⭐ Suk Kim, GC @ Zapier ⭐ Jung-Kyu McCann, CLO @ Greenhouse Software ⭐ Smrithi Mohan, GC @ Awesome ⭐ Nishat Ruiter, GC @ Ted Conferences ⭐ Jill Simeone, former CLO @ Etsy These all-star panelists will share their battle-tested insights: the challenges they have navigated, the lessons they've learned, and practical strategies for preparing your team for whatever comes next. We have limited spots remaining. If you're a first-time or early stage techGC, send me a message and we'll work to get you signed up. Note: I cannot speak to the athletic prowess of our speakers, but my own basketball career peaked and ended in 8th grade when I clocked in at 5'4" and then stopped growing.

“So often, we hear about AI in the abstract. At this event, we're cutting through the noise to discuss exactly how AI tools are being used right now to solve real legal problems.” – Kimberly Woodward, VP of Legal & Chief of Staff, Okta, LegalOps × GC Conference Co-Chair “This conference is a one-of-a-kind opportunity. For the first time, there is an event for both GCs and Legal Ops leaders to attend together, in one forum.” – Bill Berry, GC at Verkada, LegalOps × GC Conference Co-Chair On November 12-13, senior legal and legal ops leaders from companies like Meta, Lyft, Intuit, and Stripe will gather at the first-ever LegalOps × GC Conference in San Jose to explore how AI is redefining the modern legal department. With hands-on sessions, curated roundtables, and real conversations about AI, innovation, and leadership, you’ll walk away with ideas you can use immediately and a community to keep the conversation going long after. Hear from leaders shaping the next generation of legal innovation, including:  • Carrie Bentley, Head of Legal Operations, Anthropic  • Sean D'Souza, Chief of Staff to the GC & Global Director of Legal Ops, Google  • Tommie Tavares-Ferreira, Chief Strategy Officer, Lawtrades  • Gauri M., VP, Head of Legal, Privacy & AI Governance, GoFundMe  • Kelly Martin, Director, Legal Ops & Special Projects, Figma  • Rachel Nico, Chief Privacy Officer; Associate General Counsel, Privacy, Cybersecurity & AI, Intel Corporation We can’t wait to bring this community together at this inaugural event in San Jose! Interested in joining us? Registration closes Oct. 31. Learn more + RSVP via the link in comments 👇 Thank you to our Diamond Partner Lawtrades and all of our sponsors for their support: Brightflag, Checkbox, Filevine, Ivo, Luminance, Onit, Relativity, SpotDraft, Streamline AI, Wordsmith AI

AI adoption has been a game changer for our legal department at Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. thanks to my fantastic legal ops team (shout out to Jason Ng and Caroline Collesidis). Excited to co-lead this roundtable discussion with Adam Glick at the The L Suite (TechGC) offsite this year!

Looking forward to co-leading this roundtable discussion with David Peinsipp of Cooley LLP about late stage liquidity options for Pre-IPO companies and public company readiness on Tuesday! Also looking forward to this restorative The L Suite (TechGC) Executive GC offsite with my fellow TechGCs.

Excited to be hosting a discussion with Robert Keele and our sponsor Benesch Law next Wednesday diving into the real-world challenges we all face in protecting intellectual property. Thank you to The L Suite (TechGC) for putting this group together for dynamic and insightful discussions! And if any of you are going to KubeCon next month, hit me up! I'll be there with vCluster! For more information, please see www.lsuite.co #TechLaw #KubeCon #Cloudnativecon #CloudNative #Kubernetes #CloudScalability #vCluster #PlatformEngineering #DevOps

Feeling energized after last week’s Crypto Offsite in Nashville, where I co-led a roundtable with TuongVy Le and Anne Peetz on the evolving legal landscape for new yield strategies in digital assets. Our discussion focused on how institutions are structuring DeFi lending, vaults, and stablecoin-based products — and the emerging legal questions around custody, investment advice, and disclosure that come with them. It’s clear the market is moving quickly, and legal frameworks are racing to keep up. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion, and to The L Suite (TechGC) for convening such a forward-looking group of leaders.

Thanks to The L Suite (TechGC) Suite for hosting an excellent VC Deputy GC Conference in Nashville last week. It was a pleasure leading a roundtable discussion with Danielle Naftulin (she/her) of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati) on Fund Liquidity: IPOs, Secondaries & Exit Strategy — an incredibly timely topic as venture funds navigate a dynamic exit environment. We got some great insights into the new NVCA forms released in October from Danielle who serves on the NVCA GC advisory board. Appreciated the thoughtful dialogue and the chance to connect with so many sharp in-house counsel peers.

“Truly one of the most insightful and worthwhile conferences I’ve attended in a while.” “We thought the event was a huge success and were so pleased with the content and community.” “The partners are saying how much they enjoyed the program.” “Great combination of content and engagement - the kind that builds real connections.” These are just a few of the notes we received after hosting four incredible events for The L Suite (TechGC) community last week. Our Crypto, Fintech, Fund GCs, and Fund Deputy GCs gathered for multi-day offsites filled with candid conversations, practical insights, and a lot of fun and laughter along the way. Hearing how these experiences continue to shape and strengthen our community has been incredibly rewarding. None of it happens without the hard work, care, and commitment of our team. They pour so much into creating spaces that feel thoughtful, connected, and meaningful. As we catch our breath this weekend, our hearts are full. Because at the end of the day, it all comes back to the same thing: the power of community.

New Host Update ! Excited to be leading a discussion with Zainab Abdullah and our host Melissa Magner next Wednesday about ways the legal team can drive change and bring strategic advice and counsel in high-growth, private companies. Thank you to the The L Suite (TechGC) for putting this group together for an energetic and lively discussion! For more information, please see www.lsuite.co