Legal leadership is under more pressure than ever. Regulations shift overnight. AI rewrites what lawyers do. Geopolitics turns supply chains into legal minefields. In 2026, the role of the general counsel demands not just legal expertise but strategic courage. One event brings the people navigating these challenges together in a single room for a day of frank, high-level conversation.
On September 15, 2026, Economist Enterprise hosts the 5th Annual General Counsel Summit US at Convene, 117 West 46th Street, New York City. This is the fifth edition of the summit, and it is shaping up to be the most consequential yet.
Event Overview
| Detail | Information |
| Event Name | 5th Annual General Counsel Summit US |
| Theme | Law in the Age of Systemic Risk |
| Date | September 15, 2026 |
| Venue | Convene, 117 West 46th Street, New York City |
| Organizer | Economist Enterprise |
| Format | Chatham House Rule |
| Expected Attendees | 500+ general counsel and legal decision-makers |
| Confirmed Speakers | 60+ |
The summit operates under the Chatham House Rule, meaning no remarks are attributed to a specific speaker outside the room. This rule creates a trusted environment where senior legal leaders speak openly about the real challenges they face, not just what sounds good on a press release.
The Theme: Law in the Age of Systemic Risk
The 2026 summit carries the theme “Law in the Age of Systemic Risk.” It reflects a world in which legal and political forces are increasingly hard to separate. Enforcement priorities shift with each election cycle. AI agents take corporate actions that blur accountability. Trade policy rewrites contracts overnight. Immigration enforcement disrupts workforces without warning.
In this environment, legal leaders face a new kind of question. It is no longer simply about what the law says. It is about when to comply, when to push back, and when to help the business operate in the grey areas between law, policy, and strategy. The summit puts these questions directly to more than 60 expert speakers in candid, practical sessions designed to give attendees tools they can use immediately.
Full Day Schedule at a Glance
| Time (EDT) | Session |
| 8:00 – 8:50 AM | Registration, networking breakfast, and invite-only breakfast briefings |
| 8:50 – 8:55 AM | Opening remarks by The Economist |
| 8:55 – 9:20 AM | Global trends briefing from the Economist Intelligence Unit |
| 9:20 – 9:55 AM | Panel: Counsel and conscience – the GC in a polarised age |
| 9:55 – 10:15 AM | Fireside chat: The GC’s role in the grey zone – law vs politics |
| 10:15 – 10:45 AM | Panel: The end of leverage? Rewriting the law firm model |
| 10:45 – 11:45 AM | Exhibition and networking break |
| 11:45 AM – 12:05 PM | Fireside chat: The talent vacuum – who becomes the next GC? |
| 12:05 – 12:35 PM | Panel: M&A and antitrust – a market check-in |
| 12:35 – 12:55 PM | Fireside chat: The changing role of the lawyer in an AI-driven legal function |
| 12:55 – 1:15 PM | Fireside chat: Judicial independence and the rule of law |
| 1:15 – 2:10 PM | Networking lunch and exhibition |
| 2:15 – 2:45 PM | Parallel panels: AI agent liability and the border problem |
| 2:45 – 3:05 PM | Fireside chat: Beyond human lawyers – how the legal function scales |
| 3:05 – 3:30 PM | Parallel panels: DOJ and SEC enforcement landscape and AI risk governance |
| 3:30 – 3:45 PM | Coffee break and exhibition |
| 3:45 – 4:25 PM | Parallel sessions: AI value creation case studies and tariffs and supply chains |
| 4:15 – 4:45 PM | Panel: What if? Contingency planning for the unthinkable |
| 4:25 – 4:45 PM | Panel: Leading beyond legal – creating business value |
| 4:45 – 5:00 PM | Presentation: America’s midterms – what is at stake |
| 5:00 – 5:30 PM | Panel: Looking to 2027 – the boardroom choices that lie ahead |
| 5:30 – 5:35 PM | Closing remarks by The Economist |
| 5:35 – 6:30 PM | Networking drinks |
Featured Speakers
The speaker lineup draws from the most senior legal roles in American and global business. Here is a selection of confirmed participants.
| Speaker | Role | Organization |
| Charlotte Howard | Executive editor and New York bureau chief | The Economist |
| Anne E. Robinson | Senior vice-president and chief legal officer | IBM |
| Vandana Venkatesh | Executive vice-president and chief legal officer | Verizon |
| Rodney C. Pratt | Senior vice-president and chief legal officer | LVMH North America |
| Bimal Patel | Executive vice-president and general counsel | PayPal |
| Ron Klain | Chief legal officer and general counsel | Airbnb |
| Andrea Nelson | Executive vice-president, general counsel and corporate secretary | The Cigna Group |
| LaTanya Langley | Chief people officer, chief legal officer and corporate secretary | Edgewell |
| Dev Stahlkopf | Executive vice-president and chief legal officer | Cisco |
| Francesca Campbell | Senior vice-president and general counsel | Stanley Black & Decker |
| Matthew Dornauer | Chief legal officer | Heineken USA |
| Shiv O’Neill | Executive vice-president and general counsel | Elanco |
| Nishka Chandrasoma | Vice-president and chief legal officer | Ford Foundation |
| Crystal Lalime | General counsel | Barclays Bank and the Global Investment Bank |
| Vanessa Sutherland | Executive vice-president and general counsel | Phillips 66 |
| Alphonso David | President and chief executive | Global Black Economic Forum |
| John LaBarre | General counsel | Harvey |
| Bernice B. Donald | Former judge | U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee |
| John E. Jones III | Former chief judge | U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania |
| Mike Bird | Wall Street editor | The Economist |
Additional speakers come from Barclays, Heineken USA, Cox Media Group, MARA Holdings, Access Now, Saks Global, Viking Global Investors, Okta, Get Your Guide, BNY Mellon, JLL, Xsolla, Casey’s, Sidley LLP, Ropes and Gray, White and Case, and Columbia University, among many others.
Key Session Highlights
Counsel and Conscience: The GC in a Polarised Age
This opening panel sets the tone for the day. It asks how senior legal executives navigate their dual identity as lawyers and as public citizens. When regulation and political pressure collide with personal values, where does the GC draw the line? Anne E. Robinson of IBM and Rodney C. Pratt of LVMH North America will join Daniel Zinn of OTC Markets Group to address this directly.
The GC’s Role in the Grey Zone: Law vs Politics
Vanessa Sutherland of Phillips 66 joins Alphonso David, president of the Global Black Economic Forum, to tackle a growing challenge. Many companies now treat policy signals, speeches, and regulatory hints as binding law. The result is over-compliance, strategic paralysis, and distorted corporate behavior. This session examines where prudent risk management ends and unnecessary self-restriction begins.
AI and Legal Leadership: Three Sessions on a Transforming Function
The summit dedicates significant programming to artificial intelligence. A morning fireside chat explores how legal teams are moving from experimenting with AI to generating measurable business value. Vandana Venkatesh of Verizon and John LaBarre of Harvey lead this session. Later, a panel on AI agent liability asks who is accountable when autonomous systems act on behalf of organizations. A closing session on scaling the legal function examines whether high-quality legal judgment can be embedded consistently across an enterprise using AI, without losing the human discretion that complex matters still require.
Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law
Former federal judges Bernice B. Donald and John E. Jones III discuss the risks to business when confidence in judicial institutions is weakened. They examine what happens when court orders face non-compliance, when judges face political pressure, and how GCs should respond when the legal system itself becomes unpredictable.
The Talent Vacuum: Who Becomes the Next GC?
LaTanya Langley of Edgewell and Pamela Salling of Major, Lindsey and Africa look at a growing succession crisis in legal leadership. AI is shrinking junior pipelines. Senior staff carry institutional memory that no system can replace. This session asks whether the traditional path to becoming a general counsel is broken, and what comes next.
Contingency Planning for the Unthinkable
The afternoon closes with a scenario-based panel moderated by Mike Bird of The Economist. Speakers including Ron Klain of Airbnb and Crystal Lalime of Barclays work through three real-world crisis scenarios: emergency sanctions on a major trading partner, a NATO cyber retaliation that draws corporations in, and sudden data-localisation laws during a geopolitical dispute. These are not hypotheticals. They are the kinds of decisions legal leaders may face within weeks.
Looking to 2027: The Boardroom Choices That Lie Ahead
The summit closes with a forward-looking panel. Bimal Patel of PayPal and Andrea Nelson of The Cigna Group examine the political, technological, and economic forces that will define boardroom strategy in the year ahead.
Why This Summit Stands Apart
Most legal conferences offer panels and presentations. This summit offers something different. The Chatham House Rule removes the usual pressure to stay on-message. Attendees speak plainly about the issues their organizations actually face. The result is a day of frank conversation among peers that simply cannot be replicated in a standard conference format.
Additionally, the depth of the speaker lineup reflects genuine seniority. These are not deputies or spokespeople. They are the people who make the final call. Network with more than 500 general counsel, including those from Fortune 500 companies, and exchange ideas through roundtables, case study-led sessions, and panel debates.
The summit is accredited for Continuing Professional Development, ensuring attendees also meet formal requirements while gaining practical insights.
How to Register
Registration is available through the official event website at events.economistenterprise.com/general-counsel-us. The event is designed for senior in-house legal leaders, chief legal officers, and general counsel. Sponsorship and speaking opportunities for organizations supporting the legal community are also available through the same platform.
Given the closed-door nature of the summit and the caliber of the attendee network, early registration is strongly recommended.
Conclusion
The 5th Annual General Counsel Summit US takes place on September 15, 2026, at Convene in Midtown Manhattan. Organized by Economist Enterprise under the theme “Law in the Age of Systemic Risk,” the summit brings together more than 500 senior legal decision-makers and 60 confirmed speakers for a full day of frank discussion on the issues reshaping the general counsel role. Sessions cover AI liability and integration, judicial independence, M&A and antitrust, immigration enforcement, tariffs and supply chains, talent succession, and the future of the law firm model. Key speakers include the chief legal officers of IBM, Verizon, Cisco, Airbnb, PayPal, The Cigna Group, Phillips 66, and Barclays. The Chatham House Rule ensures that every conversation in the room stays genuinely open and candid. For any senior legal leader navigating the complexity of 2026, this is the essential gathering of the year.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is the 5th Annual General Counsel Summit US?
The summit takes place on September 15, 2026, at Convene, 117 West 46th Street, New York City. The event runs from 8:00 a.m. to approximately 6:30 p.m. EDT, concluding with a networking drinks reception.
Who organizes the General Counsel Summit US?
The summit is organized by Economist Enterprise, the business-facing arm of The Economist Group. Economist Enterprise produces executive summits and enterprise intelligence programs for senior leaders across industries worldwide.
What is the Chatham House Rule and why does the summit use it?
The Chatham House Rule allows participants to use information discussed in the session but prohibits them from attributing statements to specific individuals or organizations. The summit uses this format to encourage open, candid conversation among senior legal leaders on the most sensitive and complex issues they face in their roles.
Who should attend the summit?
The event is designed for general counsel, chief legal officers, senior in-house counsel, and legal decision-makers from large organizations. Attendees typically come from Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, healthcare organizations, technology firms, and other regulated industries. The summit is not open to the general public.
Is the summit accredited for Continuing Professional Development?
Yes. The General Counsel Summit US offers Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation, allowing qualified attendees to count their participation toward formal CPD requirements. More details on accreditation credits are available through the official event registration page.
