Schedule and agenda

Firms are re-evaluating their talent strategies in response to AI disruption, client pressure, and changing workforce expectations. This session will explore how hiring, capability development, and leadership models are evolving across the sector. Discussion points include:

• Balancing lateral recruitment and junior development
• Prioritising multi-disciplinary and tech-enabled skill sets
• Planning for succession in a leaner, high-mobility market

Regulatory pressure on corporate Australia is intensifying, with increased oversight across disclosure, governance, and consumer-facing practices. Firms are being called on to help clients navigate complex legal obligations while managing enforcement risk and reputational exposure. This session explores how legal advisers are responding to sharper regulatory expectations and supporting clients through greater scrutiny and uncertainty. Discussion points include:

• Responding to rising enforcement activity in areas such as disclosure, ESG, and financial conduct
• Providing clear, defensible advice in high-risk commercial contexts
• Managing regulator expectations while maintaining commercial pragmatism
• Supporting clients through audits, investigations, and public-facing risk

As generative AI becomes embedded across litigation, advisory, and documentation workflows, the lawyer’s role is evolving from originator to verifier. This session explores how firms are defining, operationalising, and enforcing verification standards to ensure evidentiary accuracy, ethical compliance, and client trust in a hybrid human-machine environment. Discussion points include:

• Failure patterns and cognitive blind spots in AI-augmented legal work
• Designing resilient verification workflows and accountability frameworks
• Managing audit trails, disclosure duties, and reputational risk in AI-mediated matters

General Counsel are now expected to lead not only on legal risk, but also on ethics, culture, and strategy. This session explores how the General Counsel role is evolving inside the corporate structure, including increased involvement in enterprise governance and organisational leadership. We’ll examine how legal leaders are navigating this expanded scope while maintaining the independence and integrity of the legal function. Discussion points include:

• Embedding legal and ethical frameworks into commercial decision-making
• Balancing legal independence with cross-functional influence
• Influencing executive and board-level decision-making

Beyond influencing corporate strategy, General Counsel are now directly accountable for the legal integrity of enterprise compliance systems. As enforcement activity intensifies, regulators expect not just policies, but effective implementation, documentation, and control. This session explores how in-house legal leaders are designing, overseeing, and defending compliance frameworks that can withstand scrutiny. Discussion points include:

• Structuring compliance functions across business units, systems, and reporting lines
• Meeting legal obligations in practice, not just in policy
• Preparing for investigations, regulator engagement, and enforcement actions
• Clarifying legal’s role in incident response, audit, and control testing

In-house teams are under pressure to adopt AI to improve speed, reduce cost, and meet business demand. But deploying these tools inside a corporate environment raises complex legal, compliance, and ethical risks. This session explores how legal leaders are balancing adoption with governance, and where internal controls must evolve to stay ahead of regulatory and reputational exposure. Discussion points include:

• Use cases for AI in contract review, triage, and knowledge management
• Managing data privacy, confidentiality, and model transparency
• Setting internal AI governance policies aligned to enterprise risk
• Aligning legal, IT, procurement and compliance on responsible deployment

The role of the independent legal professional is broadening. As regulatory expectations tighten and client demands become more sophisticated, sole practitioners and boutique firms are being called to meet a wider standard that combines legal excellence with strong leadership, operational consistency, and forward planning. This session unpacks how practitioners can navigate that shift while preserving the independence and integrity of their practice. Discussion points include:

• Leading a practice that balances legal, ethical, and operational priorities
• Responding to rising scrutiny around reliability, transparency, and client service
• Managing risk and reputation in the absence of large-firm infrastructure
• Staying ahead of regulatory change and evolving professional norms

Smaller legal practices are facing greater scrutiny under Australia’s evolving AML/CTF regime. With regulators extending enforcement activity beyond major institutions, this session provides clear, practice-specific guidance on obligations, common risk exposures, and compliance expectations. Discussion points include:

• Core AML/CTF requirements for legal practices under current law
• High-risk areas: client onboarding, trust accounts, and property transactions
• Common enforcement triggers and how to avoid them
• Practical steps to build cost-effective, regulator-aligned compliance systems

Recent cases have seen practitioners sanctioned for submitting AI-generated citations and inaccurate content in court. This session will examine the professional and reputational risks of unsupervised AI use, particularly in sole or small-practice settings. Attendees will leave with clear expectations and practical guidance on safe, compliant use. Discussion points include:

• Real-world misconduct cases involving AI-generated pleadings and authorities
• Duties of care in verifying submissions and evidence
• Judicial and regulator guidance on AI use in court-adjacent work
• Risk management strategies for sole practitioners and chambers without internal review