Utilizing Tech to Transform the Legal Department

Owen Byrd is Lex Machina’s Chief Evangelist and General Counsel. He provides thought leadership about Legal Analytics and its value for the business and practice of law via speaking engagements, publications, webcasts, blogging, social media, and press.

As general counsel, he manages Lex Machina’s legal affairs and serves as a member of the its leadership committee. He has previously led the company’s operations, customer success, sales, and marketing functions.

He is also a leader in the legal tech industry, serving on the board of Upsolve (bankruptcy), the advisory boards of DealWIP (legal service delivery) and High Performance Counsel (media), and co-leading the Legal Tech Accelerator, a joint program of Lex Machina and LexisNexis, which has assisted 17 start-ups in the past two years.

Owen has previously founded and led data-centric software, real estate, and non-profit ventures and operated his own law firm. He is a member of the California Bar and earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. from Colorado College.

He has spoken extensively to legal audiences, primarily focusing on the use of data and analytics to improve legal decision-making.

Cory Sumsion is the Director of Commercial Legal at eBay.

Douglas G. Beck was named Hub Group’s Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel in May 2016, after serving as Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel since July of 2015, and as Interim General Counsel since January 2015. In this role he is responsible for managing Hub’s Legal, Human Resources and Compliance departments. Doug began his career with Hub Group in June 2011 as Assistant General Counsel.

Prior to joining Hub Group, Doug was a Senior Attorney with Alberto-Culver Company from 2007 to 2011. He previously held counsel positions at Navistar International Corporation, Allegiance Healthcare Corporation and Seyfarth Shaw. In 2009, he was recognized with the Values Award at Alberto-Culver for his exemplary work.

In his free time, Doug is an instrument rated pilot. His background also includes teaching English for a year and a half at the American School of Quito in Ecuador, where he became fluent in Spanish. Doug also speaks conversational Portuguese.

Doug earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois in 1987, graduating summa cum laude, and received his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law in 1992.

John Albright, HUB International Limited’s Chief Legal Officer, joined the Executive Management Team in May 2014. Albright is a seasoned, business-focused executive with 20 years of legal and commercial management experience in public, private and private equity-owned company and large law firm settings. While serving as the general counsel for several multinational corporations in complex and vastly different market segments, Albright amassed a record of building and leading highly efficient legal departments that effectively supported the achievement of commercial objectives.

Prior to accepting his current role of CLO at HUB International, Albright served as Senior Vice President, Global Legal and Compliance for Information Resources, Inc., a billion dollar data, technology and market research company with operations in 14 countries. Albright also worked as General Counsel for Accenture HR Services, Inc., an HR outsourcing joint venture that was ultimately acquired by Accenture during his tenure, and as both Division Counsel and Intellectual Property Counsel for Network Solutions, Inc., a large internet products and services company. In this latter role, Albright supported the $21 billion sale of Network Solutions (then a public company) to Verisign, Inc.

Albright began his legal career as an intellectual property and technology attorney with both Alston & Bird and Finnegan Henderson, focusing on complex litigation before state and Federal courts and the United States International Trade Commission.

Albright earned a BME in Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, before pursuing his JD at Vanderbilt University Law School.

Dennis Garcia is an Assistant General Counsel for Microsoft Corporation based in Chicago. He practices at the intersection of law and technology and provides a wide range of legal support to Microsoft’s Sales, Marketing and Operations teams across the United States.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Dennis worked as an in-house counsel for Accenture and IBM.

Dennis received his B.A. in Political Science from Binghamton University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School. He is admitted to practice in New York, Connecticut and Illinois (House Counsel). Dennis is a Fellow of Information Privacy, a Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States and a Certified Information Privacy Technologist with the International Association of Privacy Professionals. He serves on the Board of Directors of Illinois Legal Aid Online, the Minority In-House Counsel Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel – Chicago Chapter. Dennis is also a member of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Future of Legal Services.