October 18, 2022

By Nicole Cote

London — 17 October 2022: The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (“CLOC”) recently concluded its CLOC EMEA Summit in London, the professional organization’s first in-person summit in Europe since January 2020 and its largest-ever event in the region. Citing the summit’s success and popularity, CLOC has announced plans for another EMEA event in September 2023.

“We hosted nearly 500 attendees, representing 25 countries,” said CLOC President Mike Haven, who is Head of Legal Operations at Intel. “People are eager to come together because this is a challenging and thrilling time for our profession. We are being asked to take on important new responsibilities, including involvement in critical issues like ESG. Our members are breaking new ground and its challenging. But it’s also a thrilling time because we get to help lead the way. We get to help our organizations and our companies navigate the future.”

The one-day summit, which took place 10 October at the state-of-the-art etc.venues 133 Houndsditch site, featured 30 speakers over 9 sessions and dozens of exhibitors highlighting the skills and resources needed to lead strategic planning, financial management, project management and technology initiatives, among other important responsibilities, for corporate legal departments. 45 sponsors, representing legal service provides and law firms, helped convene the event.

“It’s an incredible moment that we find ourselves in,” said Aine Lyons, who leads Global Legal Services S.T.A.R. Operations and Privacy for VMware and is a CLOC Board member and Europe Lead. “Our teams, our industry, and our world are all changing in profound ways. So it’s inspiring to have so many people come together to work on how we can embrace these new challenges and help push forward not just our companies but our entire community.”

As the largest global community of legal operations professionals, CLOC has helped set industry standards and practices for the profession, launching an educational initiative focused on a core curriculum including the 12 functional areas of legal operations, industry terminology and foundational tenets, and a mentorship program pairing aspiring and early-career professionals with industry veterans. The Legal Ops 101 program offered at the CLOC EMEA summit was filled to capacity, reflecting the dramatic growth of the profession and the expansion of career opportunities in the field.

“This is a dynamic, inclusive field that is in a state of constant reinvention,” said CLOC Executive Director Betsi Roach. “There is room now in legal operations for all kinds of people, and all kinds of skills. We’ve always needed problem solvers, planners, and process design experts. Now, we need technologists, data mavens, evangelists. We need people who are team-builders, change management experts, motivators and leaders.”

The Summit also debuted CLOC Talk Live, a live version of CLOC’s podcast, hosted by Jenn McCarron, Netflix’s Director of Legal Operations and Technology.

In addition, the summit included continuing education content, product demonstrations, networking opportunities.

The next CLOC EMEA Summit is set for September 2023.

Press Contact:
Nicole Cote
Nicole.cote@cloc.org
703-786-6671