Ep 028: Cisco CLO Mark Chandler on Legal Department Innovation

For some two decades, Mark Chandler has been a leading voice for innovation and technology in the operation of legal departments and the delivery of legal services. Executive vice president and chief legal officer at technology giant Cisco, he has been the company’s top lawyer since 2001 and a member of its legal department since 1996, when Cisco acquired Stratacom, where he had been general counsel.

In 2010, The National Law Journal named Chandler one of the 40 most influential lawyers of the decade, and in 2013, American Lawyer numbered him among the Top 50 Big Law Innovators of the Last 50 Years. In 2017, the Forum on Legal Evolution honored Chandler with its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award, writing that he “has been at the forefront of legal department innovation and thought leadership, challenging the industry to consider new and better ways to serve internal and external clients.”

Chandler joins host Bob Ambrogi to talk about innovation at Cisco, whose legal department is often cited as a model for others, as well as in legal departments generally and in the delivery of legal services. Other topics they discuss include privacy, the rise of legal operations, alternative legal services providers, and current technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.

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