Legal departments across various industries are navigating an increasingly complex landscape filled with challenges, but according to two in-house lawyers, they’re not facing these challenges alone.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Corporate Counsel Show, ClearBridge Investments’ head of legal, risk and compliance, Annette Golden, and legal counsel Sydney Abba discussed how in-house lawyers – despite working across diverse industries – are united in facing the common challenges confronting legal departments today.
While attending the 2025 Corporate Counsel Summit, Golden and Abba joined the podcast desk to share that the most reassuring realisation they had at the event was the universality of the challenges confronting in-house lawyers, from AI to regulatory upheaval.
Golden noted that, although law departments often operate in isolation, the challenges they face are far from unique and remain consistent across industries.
“I think one of the biggest takeaways for us is just to know that the issues that everyone’s been talking about today across so many industries are so consistent, whether in financial services or entertainment, or whether you’re in Uber or any of those other companies,” Golden said.
From the rise of AI and the swift pace of regulatory change to an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape, she noted that in-house lawyers are “all facing the same questions and challenges” at present.
Golden acknowledged that while the pressures faced by in-house lawyers are consistent across industries, so too are the potential solutions.
“The most interesting aspects for us have been seeing the consistency across the different industries in the challenges we’re facing at the moment,” Golden noted.
“[Issues] like AI, rapid pace of regulatory change, how to interpose yourself with, how to be at the table, really interposing yourself with the business, but also to realise that within that consistency, there are so many very positive ideas that are very solution-focused.”
Abba echoed these sentiments, emphasising the value of ongoing communication and knowledge-sharing across the legal community in adapting to these changes.
“The regulatory environment, as Annette was saying, is shifting. There are a lot of things at play at the moment, and I think we’re all benefiting from, I suppose, communicating and catching up all the time to share those insights and approaches to responding to these types of challenges,” Abba stated.
For Abba, the sense of unity within the industry in confronting shared challenges is a vital source of strength – a sign that the profession is moving in a collective direction to overcome them.
“Being [at the Corporate Counsel Summit] is giving us comfort, which seems to be the approach that everyone’s taking, and just keeping our colleagues close and everybody in the industry, you know, together and listening and learning from each other. I think that’s the best way to do it, particularly as it ramps up,” Abba outlined.
