Developing a LegalOps Department in Your Organization

Charlene Foss has worked at LexisNexis, a prominent on-line information and legal software company, for 15 years.

Prior to joining LexisNexis, Char was in private practice at Lord, Bissell & Brook in Chicago; her practice focused primarily upon international coverage litigation.

During her career at LexisNexis, Char has won multiple awards in consulting. She served as a Corporate Legal Region Council Member from 2011 to 2013, and was a LexisNexis Circle of Excellence winner in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She has served as Chicago’s LexisNexis Cares Champion since 2010, and was selected by Reed Elsevier leadership in 2013 for the Recognizing Those Who Care award based on her philanthropic work in Chicagoland.

Char has a long record of volunteerism with the groups such as PILI, Pro Bono Advocates and the Veterans Legal Support Center at the John Marshall Law School. She also has served on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism’s CLE working group, and had the privilege of serving as an Illinois Human Rights Commissioner from 2017-2018. Char currently serves as a Park Ridge Public Library Trustee and as a Commissioner on the Illinois Volunteerism and Community Service Board.

Char graduated from Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington in 1997 with honors, where she was a member of the Indiana Law Journal editorial staff.

Sam Ranganathan is the Senior Director of Information Governance & Legal Operations at AbbVie.

Saumil Mehta is Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Gogo LLC, the leading provider of in-flight connectivity.

In his role at Gogo, Saumil oversees the IP portfolio and is responsible for establishing the company’s innovation initiatives, including the creation of a patent committee and the development of a formal process for inventors to submit invention disclosures.

In addition to handling IP matters, Saumil regularly negotiates IP and IT-related transactions with airlines, airframe manufacturers, satellite providers, and other key partners for Gogo.

Prior to joining Gogo, Saumil worked as a senior attorney at IBM, and before that in the IP transactions group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Saumil started his career at a boutique intellectual property law firm in Chicago focusing on biotech and pharmaceutical patent litigation and prosecution.

He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, BS; University of Virginia, MS; and University of Minnesota, JD.

Carol Bouw is the Director of Legal Operations at Xcel Energy. She is also a Strategy and Performance Consultant. A graduate of St. Mary's University where she studied Business Administration and Management, Carol is also a certified Leadership Coach.

Heather is the Director of Legal Operations at Adtalem Global Education. She is an attorney with demonstrated experience in general corporate matters including governance, contract review & drafting, transaction documents and contract management. Known for developing strong strategic partnerships and relationships with functional business leaders to effectively bridge the gap between the operational unit and the corporate law department for effective and streamlined communication.