In-House Legal Leaders: A Private Dinner at The Wilderness
Hosted by: Wordsmith
Thursday 11 February | 19:00 – 22:30
The Wilderness: 27 Warstone Lane, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18 6JQ
The Rule: Chatham House. This is a closed-door, off-the-record session for senior in-house legal leaders to speak freely.
About Event
A closed-door roundtable dinner for senior in-house legal leaders across some of the UK’s most consequential businesses and institutions.
The pace of change facing in-house legal teams has rarely been higher. AI is rewriting commercial workflows, talent strategy and team operating models. Regulation is moving faster than corporate cycles can absorb. The expectations on the legal function to be a partner, a guardrail, and increasingly a value centre have multiplied.
This dinner brings together a curated group of General Counsels and Heads of Legal from across manufacturing, financial and professional services, infrastructure, energy, retail, technology, life sciences, public bodies and beyond. The evening is at The Wilderness, Alex Claridge’s Michelin-starred restaurant in a restored factory, for an off-the-record conversation about how the role is changing and what comes next.
Discussion points:
The evening’s agenda is structured around three threads:
AI in legal beyond the pilot. Where AI is actually driving ROI in commercial work, contract review, knowledge management and risk assessment, and what’s still hype.
Leadership, talent and the operating model. How GCs are restructuring teams, building the next generation of in-house leadership, and reshaping the function around new tools and new expectations.
The legal function as a value centre. Repositioning legal from cost centre to strategic asset, and what that actually requires in measurement, leadership posture, and stakeholder relationships.
Format:
19:00 - Arrivals
19:30 - Seated dinner and roundtable under Chatham House Rule
22:30 - Close
No fluff. No sales pitches. Just a high-level exchange of ideas over exceptional food and drink.
Registration: Approval required. Your registration is subject to host approval.