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Stradley Ronon Team Explores the Autonomous Legal Department at ACC Greater Philadelphia’s In-House Counsel Conference
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PHILADELPHIA — Stradley Ronon partner Nicole Ellis and associate Gina Leahey, co-chair of the firm’s technology committee, served as panelists for a session titled “The Autonomous Legal Dept: Risk, Liability, and Control in AI-Driven Contracting” as part of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Greater Philadelphia’s 18th Annual In-House Counsel Conference. The event, hosted April 16 in Philadelphia, explored cutting-edge legal topics impacting in-house counsel.
Nicole and Gina — along with Christopher Manchin, associate general counsel at Perseus Group, Constellation Software Inc. — provided a strategic roadmap for organizations’ 2026 AI governance audits, establishing the internal controls and “hard-coded” playbooks necessary to ensure automated negotiations remain tethered to their core risk appetite and proprietary standards. The panel also covered governance of AI in requests for proposal, contract drafting and management, and vendor responses, as well as the transition and oversight of AI tools or agents in in-house practice.
With experience both in-house and as outside counsel, Nicole brings multidimensional depth to advising on a broad spectrum of complex real estate transactional matters. She focuses on commercial real estate acquisitions and dispositions across all asset sectors, including leasing and land development.
Gina is a transactional real estate and finance lawyer with in-depth knowledge of mortgage loan origination, syndication and securitization. She regularly advises banks and real estate investment firms in real estate transactions involving a diverse range of asset classes and financing structures.
About Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
Counseling clients since 1926, Stradley Ronon has helped private and public companies — from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations — achieve their goals by providing pragmatic, value-driven legal counsel. With offices coast to coast, our lawyers seamlessly address the full spectrum of our clients’ needs, ranging from sophisticated corporate transactions to complex commercial litigation.
