Jessica Nguyen
Deputy General Counsel at Docusign, the leader in agreement management and e-signature. Jessica is also the host of the Contract Nerds community and the podcast “In-House,” the show for in-house legal professionals, and a strategic advisor for Paragon Legal, flex legal talent.
She has an extensive in-house legal career at companies of various sizes and stages and has been the first legal hire that built out the legal function of a company 3 times. Prior to Docusign, Jessica was the Chief Legal Officer of Lexion, the General Counsel and first in-house attorney at PayScale, and a Microsoft Office 365 attorney.
Jessica is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law and is an award-winning legal leader known for her thought leadership to ~25k LinkedIn followers. Her accolades include: 2023 Washington State Bar Association Legal Innovation Award, 2020 “Startup GC of the Year” by Corporate Counsel magazine, 2019 Top 100 Legal Influencers by The Business Journals, 2019 Best Under 40 by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and 2018 Puget Sound Business Journal 40 Under 40.
Tashmin Ali
Tashmin Ali is Managing Counsel for Global Procurement & Commercial Acceleration at Docusign. She leads teams of attorneys and contract managers supporting Docusign’s global indirect purchasing transactions and oversees initiatives to enhance efficiency and innovation in commercial legal processes, including workflow optimization and use of AI-powered products. Prior to joining Docusign, Tashmin worked at Elevate, a law company specializing in consulting and legal services. Tashmin began her legal career as a Corporate Associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Harry Hall
Harry has spent his entire legal career serving as in-house counsel to Sensata Technologies, a public company with a global presence serving numerous end markets. Harry is responsible for the general legal support to Sensata’s North America Vehicle and Aftermarket businesses, as well as assisting in managing global continuous improvement efforts related to legal operations and contract lifecycle management.
FREE LIVE CLE CREDIT IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR IN-HOUSE COUNSEL (FRACTIONAL GCs, GOVERNMENT ATTORNEYS, & ALSP ATTORNEYS INCLUDED) AND SUBSCRIBERS TO IN-HOUSE CONNECT ON-DEMAND.
IF YOU ARE A LAW FIRM ATTORNEY YOU ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND OUR LIVE EVENTS BUT UNLESS YOU ARE SUBSCRIBED TO IHC ON-DEMAND, WE WILL NOT BE PROCESSING YOUR CLE REQUESTS.
This program is approved for CLE credit in the following states: New York, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Texas.
This program is pending CLE credit in the following states: Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming and Wisconsin.
This program is pending CLE and CPD credit for self-application by the attorney or for reciprocal CLE credit in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Québec, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington.
We do NOT provide CLE for: Mississippi or Arkansas.
This program is appropriate for newly admitted attorneys and experienced attorneys.
From Contract Chaos to Clarity: Ethical Strategies for In-House Legal Teams in 2026
Event Description
As the year draws to a close, many in-house legal teams are still wrestling with scattered contracts hidden across inboxes, shared drives, and outdated systems. This disorganization isn’t just inconvenient—it creates real exposure. Missed deadlines, lost documents, and unsecure data can lead directly to compliance failures and even ethical violations under the ABA Model Rules. As legal departments navigate rising workloads, evolving expectations around competence, and renewed attention to lawyer well-being, contract chaos has become too risky to ignore.
Join us on Wednesday, December 17 at 12pm ET as Jessica Nguyen, Deputy General Counsel, AI Innovation & Trust and Head of Contract Nerds, Docusign; Tashmin Ali, Managing Counsel, Commercial Acceleration & Procurement, Docusign; and Harry Hall, Associate General Counsel, Sensata, explore how in-house teams can modernize their contract management practices to meet ethical obligations, reduce operational risk, and strengthen team wellness. This session will connect ethical duties around competence, confidentiality, and supervision with practical, technology-enabled approaches to centralizing and safeguarding contract workflows. You’ll leave with a clear roadmap to start 2026 with confidence and compliance.
Key Takeaways
- What’s at Stake: Understand the risks of contract chaos—from missed obligations to ethical pitfalls—and why the status quo is no longer defensible.
- Ethics Meets Technology (ABA Model Rules 1.1 & 1.6): Learn how competence and confidentiality duties now require staying current with contract management technology—and what that means in practice.
- Protecting Confidentiality: Explore practical safeguards for sensitive contract data, including access controls, encryption, and secure storage.
- Supervising in a Digital World (ABA Model Rules 5.1–5.3; ABA Formal Opinion 498): Get frameworks for supervising legal staff, vendors, AI tools, and automation responsibly and ethically.
- Well-Being as an Ethical Imperative (ABA Resolution 105): Understand how disorganization fuels stress and burnout—and why lawyer wellness is now recognized as an ethical priority.
- Your Roadmap to Compliance: Walk away with actionable steps and a checklist to assess your contract management systems, identify gaps, and implement improvements before the new fiscal year.
Who Should Attend
This session is designed for in-house counsel responsible for managing contracts, advising on risk, overseeing legal operations, or ensuring ethical and regulatory compliance within their organizations. It is particularly valuable for legal leaders looking to modernize contract processes, strengthen governance, or support team well-being heading into 2026.
There is NO COST to attend this program!
This program is FREE thanks to DocuSign! If you can’t make it to the live program, the recording will be available for viewing via our paid CLE library, In-House Connect On-Demand!
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