CZ and Friends

Cecilia Ziniti

CZ & Friends is a podcast about what it takes to lead and evolve legal in an era of exponential change. Hosted by Cecilia Ziniti, former General Counsel turned founder and CEO of GC AI, each episode features candid conversations with legal and business leaders who are building for scale, taking bold bets on technology, and leading with humanity. Whether you're a GC, operator, or in-house counsel, this podcast is your front-row seat to the future of legal.

  1. "Yes If" Thinking: Sharon Johnson of MODE Global on AI, Logistics and Legal Leadership

    6d ago

    "Yes If" Thinking: Sharon Johnson of MODE Global on AI, Logistics and Legal Leadership

    Sharon Johnson took a winding path to the GC seat. Before law school, she worked in marketing, sales, project management, and contract management at Verizon, and she credits that experience with shaping how she leads legal today. As Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer at MODE Global, she runs a team of six lawyers across a $3 billion logistics business, with 100% AI adoption and KPIs to prove it. Her team was a finalist for Best Use of AI at the 2026 Legalweek Leaders in Tech Awards, alongside Meta, Uber, and DHL. In this episode, Sharon walks through her "Yes If" framework for keeping the business moving forward instead of defaulting to no, how she cold-called the GC of Verizon (who happened to be Bill Barr) while still in law school, and the full-circle story of returning as general counsel to the company that once turned her down for a contract manager role. She and Cecilia also get into what AI adoption looks like on a lean legal team, why judgment matters more than speed, and the career advice she wishes she'd heard earlier: having a lot of ideas can be as dangerous as having none. Follow Sharon: @Sharon Johnson on LinkedIn Show notes: AI adoption that works: Sharon tracks KPIs, saves the equivalent of two headcounts per week using AI, and has achieved 100% adoption across her legal team. Working in the business before law school: Sharon's time in contract management, sales, and project management at Verizon gave her a commercial fluency that law school alone cannot teach. Her advice for aspiring GCs: go work in the business first. Cold calling as a career strategy: Sharon cold-called the General Counsel of Verizon while in law school, got career-defining advice, and later became GC of the company that once turned her down for a contract management role. Judgment in the age of AI: Why Sharon believes judgment becomes more valuable as AI handles more of the work, and what she looks for when hiring now. Tariffs, logistics, and regulatory monitoring: How Sharon uses AI to track federal register notices, executive orders, and trade policy signals so her team can advise the business before issues require action. Building a lean legal team: What it takes to run a $3 billion business with six lawyers, and why Sharon says there is no place to hide when you are lean. (00:00) Introduction (01:19) Sharon's business-first background before law school (02:35) Contract management at Verizon and what AI changes about that role (05:48) Why working in the business before practicing law is a career advantage (08:11) The "Yes If" framework for decision-making (09:13) "Yes If" in action: structuring a deal in Mexico (11:34) Running a six-lawyer team across a $3B business (14:27) Strategic work AI unlocks: compliance, risk assessments, regulatory monitoring (17:00) 100% AI adoption and how the business has noticed (18:41) How AI changes who you hire (20:44) Why judgment becomes more valuable with AI, not less (22:37) Cold calling as a career hack (25:03) The CompuCom full-circle story (27:03) Getting comfortable being uncomfortable (31:36) Collaboration and the Women's General Counsel Network (34:08) Lightning round: myths, mentors, and books (35:31) The Bezos lesson on having too many ideas (37:04) Closing reflection: a closed door is not a permanent door Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    40 min
  2. The GC-to-Board Playbook, with Executive Coach Anne Marie Segal

    Jun 10

    The GC-to-Board Playbook, with Executive Coach Anne Marie Segal

    Anne Marie Segal spent 15 years as an attorney - at White and Case, a hedge and private equity fund, and her own firm - before becoming an executive coach to general counsel and senior executives across six continents. She knows what it takes to make the leap, and what holds most lawyers back from making it. In this episode, Cecilia and Anne Marie get into the psychology behind lawyer identity, why so many high achievers stay stuck, and what it looks like to grow beyond the legal function, whether that means taking on a board seat, building toward a CEO role, or starting something entirely new. Follow Anne: @Anne Marie Segal on LinkedIn segalcoaching.com You'll hear: Why the GC role is expanding faster than ever and what the best ones are doing about itThe mindset shift lawyers have to make before they can get on a board (hint: you are not the GC on the board)How to know if you have a fatal flaw blocking your next move  and what to do about itWhat AI is changing for junior lawyers, senior lawyers, and everyone in betweenThe one question every lawyer should be asking themselves right now: what wouldn't you want to delegate?00:00 Introduction 01:03 Anne Marie's "When Harry Met Sally" moment leaving law for coaching 04:06 The fear behind staying: money, identity, and worst-case scenarios 07:38 Anne Marie's career path: White and Case, hedge funds, and letting go 12:50 Shedding the lawyer identity without losing what makes you good 17:03 Why lawyers are uniquely valuable and what that actually means 18:45 The expanding GC role: 70% of Fortune 1000 GCs now own two or more functions 25:07 GCs and board seats: the mindset shift most lawyers miss 30:36 Fatal flaws and how to find yours before they find you 36:11 AI and the legal profession: what boards are asking and what students are getting wrong 40:53 Advice for junior lawyers: what wouldn't you want to delegate? 44:54 One thing every week: how to actually make the move 47:21 Lightning round: the book that shaped Anne Marie and what she wishes she'd known before law school Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    49 min
  3. The Kanye Clause, Taylor Swift IP, and AI: Mary Ambacher of EverQuote and Lauren Anderson of Wayfair

    Jun 3

    The Kanye Clause, Taylor Swift IP, and AI: Mary Ambacher of EverQuote and Lauren Anderson of Wayfair

    What does it look like to build a legal team from first principles in 2025, with AI at the center from day one? Cecilia sits down with Mary Ambacher, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at EverQuote, and Lauren Anderson, Senior Counsel at Wayfair, to talk through exactly that.  Mary just started a new GC role after eight years at Wayfair and walked in to find the calculus for headcount had already changed. Lauren stayed behind to run a leaner team covering hundreds of contracts a cycle. They cover how to triage contracts by risk, why termination for convenience is worth fighting for in every deal, what "B+ work" means in a world where AI is closing the gap on junior associates, and the genuine open question nobody has a clean answer to. If AI does the reps, how do the next generation of Mary and Laurens develop the business judgment? Plus: the Kanye clause (yes, it's a real thing), Taylor Swift's IP filings as a masterclass in legal strategy, and what a viewership-tied marketing deal teaches you about creative lawyering. Follow Mary and Lauren: @Mary Ambacher on Linkedin.  Mary Ambacher is Deputy General Counsel at EverQuote, a publicly traded insurance marketplace. Before EverQuote, she spent eight years at Wayfair, most recently as Deputy General Counsel overseeing the commercial legal function. @Lauren Anderson on LinkedIn Lauren Anderson is Senior Counsel at Wayfair, where she leads contract review for one of the largest e-commerce companies in the US. She covers commercial agreements, influencer and affiliate deals, privacy, and emerging technology issues. Topics covered in this episode: - Building a legal team from scratch with AI as a first-principles assumption - How Wayfair's legal team handled 300 contracts in a 10-week window with a team of three - The two-bucket contract triage system Mary and Lauren built together - Why the B+ answer is often the right answer, and when it isn't - The junior lawyer pipeline problem nobody has solved yet - Non-renewal clauses, termination for convenience, and breakup fees - Taylor Swift's AI likeness filings and their implications for commercial IP - What the Kanye clause is, where it came from, and why Lauren is negotiating one right now - What the legal department looks like in five years - When to call outside counsel and when to keep it in-house 00:00 Intro 01:00 Mary's first day at EverQuote after 8 years at Wayfair 02:46 What does success look like when you're building from scratch with AI? 04:01 Clean-sheeting a legal department: starting fresh vs. inheriting a big team 06:36 Lauren on taking on a larger scope at Wayfair with a leaner team 09:14 The volume reality: 300 contracts in 10 weeks, 50 agreements per attorney per cycle 11:26 How to measure legal team performance with AI: OKRs, metrics, and contract triage 15:17 Will AI replace lawyers? The B+ answer and the junior attorney pipeline problem 19:07 Big wins: SLAs, liquidated damages, and creative lawyering 21:05 Why every contract needs a non-renewal clause (especially in an AI tool world) 22:58 Termination for convenience and the breakup fee 27:54 How junior lawyers build business judgment and confidence 30:45 Risk tolerance: the optimal number of plates to break 34:12 Taylor Swift's IP filings and what they mean for every artist 36:04 Taylor Swift's 2015 letter to Apple 37:28 What is the Kanye clause? 42:24 Lightning round: what does the legal department look like in 5 years? 45:02 What do you still use outside counsel for? 46:09 Books, leaders, and advice to your younger self Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    50 min
  4. Risk, Calibration, and 5,000 Bad Haircut Lawsuits with David Schellhase, 3x GC and Okta Board Member

    May 21

    Risk, Calibration, and 5,000 Bad Haircut Lawsuits with David Schellhase, 3x GC and Okta Board Member

    David Schellhase has been general counsel at three public companies - Salesforce, Groupon, and Slack - and he's learned that great in-house lawyering is less about knowing every law and more about knowing your company's risk appetite cold. In this episode of CZ and Friends, David joins Cecilia to share what three decades in Silicon Valley taught him about risk, prioritization, and when to push back on your CEO. David and Cecilia cover: Why the best in-house lawyers "always be calibrating," reading their company's risk profile the way a trader reads the market, and adjusting advice accordingly.How technology has made lawyers more available than ever, and why that's a problem worth solving.What it was like to be GC at Slack through explosive global growth, and how Stewart Butterfield's obsession with craft shaped David's own approach to legal work.Why David told his CEO, who called from Dublin at midnight, having read the actual GDPR text, that he hadn't read it yet and wouldn't for six months, and why that was the right call.How Groupon ended up with 5,000 lawsuits in Brazil over bad haircuts, and what that taught him about scaling globally without a legal map.Why happy hours are technically criminal in New York (it involves liquor pricing law and a rat-encrusted menu).His thesis that innovation is crime, and why the best in-house lawyers have to believe in their product enough to push the law forward.What "strong opinions, loosely held" and "disagree and commit" look like in practice as a GC.Why he thinks in-house lawyers should seek out productive narcissists, and what makes that combination so powerful in a founder.David now sits on the board at Okta, co-teaches Ethical Issues in Global Technology Product Design at Stanford, and is Entrepreneur in Residence at Ballistic Ventures. Follow David:  @David Schellhase on LinkedIn Chapters: 00:00 Preview 00:12 Welcome and intro: David Schellhase, Okta board member and EIR at Ballistic Ventures 00:25 What David is working on today 02:53 How technology has increased stress in the legal profession 06:52 Always be calibrating: understanding your company's risk appetite 11:12 The difference between in-house and BigLaw prioritization 14:30 Slack, Stewart Butterfield, and the midnight GDPR call 20:45 Innovation is crime: Uber, Airbnb, and the Overton window 25:57 Groupon: happy hours are criminal in New York 30:05 Groupon: 5,000 bad haircut lawsuits in Brazil 34:19 Strong opinions, loosely held, and disagree and commit 43:24 AI: underhyped, and why labeling AI content matters 50:11 Why in-house lawyers should work for productive narcissists 52:43 Lightning round: myths, books, and advice for your younger self Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    57 min
  5. The End of the Billable Hour with Bjarne Tellmann, CEO of FjordStream Advisors

    May 6

    The End of the Billable Hour with Bjarne Tellmann, CEO of FjordStream Advisors

    Bjarne Tellmann spent 30 years as a general counsel at Haleon, Pearson, Coca-Cola, and Aramco. Now, as CEO of FjordStream Advisors and author of "Law in the Era of AI" (Wiley), he argues that the disruption of the law firm model will not come from startups - it will come from clients. In this episode of CZ and Friends, Cecilia Ziniti joins Bjarne to unpack what he saw from the inside of some of the world's largest legal departments, why most firms are paralyzed right now, and what in-house leaders should do about it. What you will learn: Why the billable hour model is facing a Nokia moment, and what the "job to be done" shift means for law firms.How Bjarne cut legal costs by more than 40% at Pearson without simply laying people off.The two things in-house teams do that no outside firm can replicate: being proactive and being pragmatic.Why AI governance is now a third engine of in-house value, alongside productivity and pragmatism.What the "AI factory" model means for how companies will consume legal services by 2030.How to build a legal department culture where people understand the "why" behind the work.Practical tips for GCs facing board pressure on AI adoption.About Bjarne Tellmann: Bjarne is the CEO of FjordStream Advisors and the author of "Law in the Era of AI," published by Wiley. He served as General Counsel at Haleon, Pearson, Coca-Cola, and Aramco. Before law, he was a professional actor in Norway, doing film and TV work before coming to the US for theater school. Follow Bjarne: @Bjarne Philip Tellmann on LinkedIn Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    55 min
  6. Legal Ops at Scale: Sruthi Kosuri and Cindy Prabhakar of Marvell Technology

    Apr 29

    Legal Ops at Scale: Sruthi Kosuri and Cindy Prabhakar of Marvell Technology

    How does a legal operations team at a global semiconductor company cut contract request time by 73%, earn a seat at the CLO's staff table, and build board-level analytics, all while keeping pace with AI? In this episode of CZ and Friends, Cecilia Ziniti sits down with Sruthi Kosuri and Cindy Prabhakar from the legal operations team at Marvell Technology, an $8 billion company powering the infrastructure behind AI, cloud, and the devices we use every day. Sruthi and Cindy share how they transformed Marvell's legal function from a manual, reactive team into a modern, data-driven operation that the rest of the business actively wants to partner with. From auto-triaging 40% of contract requests to building self-serve SOW workflows that close in under 15 minutes, this episode is a practical masterclass in legal ops at global scale. In this episode: How Marvell's legal ops team cut contract request time by 73% across a 7,000-person user base.Meeting stakeholders where they are and how that changed how legal is perceived across their company.How auto-triage and self-serve workflows replaced a single-point-of-failure manual routing system.The strategy behind pushing Marvell paper on the front end to unlock downstream contract speed.How the "Legally Brilliant Challenge" gamified AI adoption across the legal team.What board-level legal analytics look like and how to get there.Why legal ops is no longer just legal ops, and what "global operations" means for the future.Follow our guests:  @Sruthi Kosuri on LinkedIn @Cindy Prabhakar on LinkedIn Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    33 min
  7. Replace Me: Jimmy Toy of Articore Group on AI, Copyright, and the Future of Legal

    Apr 22

    Replace Me: Jimmy Toy of Articore Group on AI, Copyright, and the Future of Legal

    What if the best thing a lawyer could do is figure out how to make themselves obsolete? Jimmy Toy, Chief Legal Officer at Articore Group (the company behind Redbubble and TeePublic), has been using AI and machine learning in legal work for over 10 years. In this episode of CZ and Friends, Jimmy joins host Cecilia Ziniti to share why the future of legal is not about working faster with AI, but about working differently. Jimmy and Cecilia cover: Why the best lawyers five years from now will use AI to stop doing legal work entirely, shifting from authoring outputs to reviewing them and architecting systemsHow the billable hour trained lawyers to fear efficiency, and what in-house counsel can do to shed that mindsetWhat it looks like to manage 40+ IP cases across global jurisdictions, including a landmark Australian trademark case against the Hells Angels that created new platform liability lawHow Articore built an AI-powered knowledge base from decades of court filings, deposition transcripts, and briefs so any team member can surface consistent legal positions in secondsWhy Jimmy tells his team to embrace being replaced, and how he built an AI champion role inside his legal functionThe three values that guide his legal team: light touch, no surprises, and make every dollar countWhat it means to be a turnaround GC, and how legal can have a direct impact on OpEx even when it cannot drive revenueJimmy also shares his take on copyright, platform liability, user-generated content at scale, and why the 20% that AI cannot replicate is where lawyers need to live. Follow Jimmy: @Jimmy Toy on LinkedIn Chapters: 00:00 Preview 00:12 Welcome and intro: Jimmy Toy, CLO at Articore Group 00:25 Redbubble, TeePublic, and 70 million user-generated images 00:48 Jimmy's 10+ years using AI before modern LLMs 01:16 The future of legal: from authoring to architecting 02:10 Why lawyers resist AI more than other professions 04:21 The billable hour and the psychology of legal work 06:10 In-house vs. firm: shedding the hours-based mindset 07:38 What legal looks like in five years 09:27 Articore's platforms and how the marketplace works 12:42 IP risk, DMCA, and managing copyright at scale 14:51 40+ IP cases across global jurisdictions 16:37 The Hells Angels case and creating Australian platform law 18:54 Deciding to appeal: balancing cost, risk, and principle 21:57 AI and litigation knowledge bases 25:05 The "VP of Existing Obligations" problem and how AI solves it 27:44 Decentralizing institutional knowledge with AI 28:44 What surprised Jimmy most about his tenure 30:44 Has the board noticed legal as a product? 31:07 Being a turnaround GC: cost, OpEx, and impact 33:31 The three team values: light touch, no surprises, make every dollar count 34:17 Lightning round: advice, books, and favorite thing about being a lawyer Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    38 min
  8. Inside Real Estate Law: Nicole Komin & Danielle Shainbrown hosted by Laurel Palluzi

    Apr 15

    Inside Real Estate Law: Nicole Komin & Danielle Shainbrown hosted by Laurel Palluzi

    Nicole Komin and Danielle Shainbrown co-founded two companies together out of Buffalo, New York: Bellwether Advisors, a real estate consulting and advisory practice, and Shainbrown Komin PLLC, a law firm. They launched both in 2022 and have been running them side by side ever since. Their paths to getting there could not be more different. Nicole came up through public interest work, elder law, and pro bono coordination before moving into real estate. Danielle spent nearly a decade at a commercial real estate development company, working her way to president, then stepped away to build something of her own. In this special episode of CZ and Friends, hosted by GC AI’s General Counsel, Laurel Palluzi, Laurel sits down with Nicole and Danielle to cover: Why they launched a law firm and a consulting practice at the same time, and how they keep them distinctWhat working inside a real estate development company teaches you that you cannot learn from the outsideThe real estate law details that never show up in law school, from wetland delineations to title curative work in New York stateWhat it actually takes to leave a president title behind and start overHow they use GC AI to replace the work of multiple FTEs and redline contracts directly in WordWhat Buffalo's real estate market looks like right now, and why it is drawing attention as a climate refuge and residential hotspotThe one thing nobody tells you before you go from employee to founderThis is the first time CZ and Friends has gone deep into real estate law. Nicole and Danielle bring a perspective most real estate attorneys do not have: they have stood on every side of a deal. Follow Danielle, Nicole, and Laurel: @Danielle Shainbrown on Linkedin @Nicole Komin on LinkedIn @Laurel Paluzzi on LinkedIn Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:22 Nicole's path from elder law to real estate 6:45 How the McGuire opportunity came together 7:07 Danielle's path: from law firm to general counsel to president 13:05 What it was like to lead through COVID as president 15:41 Why Danielle walked away from the president role 18:43 Nicole's decision to build something of her own 21:19 Planning the escape hatch during one-on-ones 23:02 What nobody tells you about going from employee to founder 27:13 Real estate law: what you only learn from the inside 33:19 Running a law firm and a consulting practice in parallel 36:17 Buffalo's real estate market and what it means to be embedded in a community 43:06 How Nicole and Danielle found GC AI and what changed 47:01 Lightning round: myths, books, and advice for your younger self 50:21 Final takeaways About the Guests: Nicole Komin and Danielle Shainbrown are co-founders of Bellwether Advisors and Shainbrown Komin PLLC, based in Buffalo, New York. Their practices cover commercial real estate, business law, owner's representation, and real estate development consulting. Follow us on all social platforms to get each new episode when it drops. ⁠@Cecilia Ziniti⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠@CeciliaZin⁠ on Twitter/X ⁠@GC AI⁠ on LinkedIn @gcai on X ⁠gc.ai⁠ website

    45 min
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5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

CZ & Friends is a podcast about what it takes to lead and evolve legal in an era of exponential change. Hosted by Cecilia Ziniti, former General Counsel turned founder and CEO of GC AI, each episode features candid conversations with legal and business leaders who are building for scale, taking bold bets on technology, and leading with humanity. Whether you're a GC, operator, or in-house counsel, this podcast is your front-row seat to the future of legal.

Information

  • Creator
    Cecilia Ziniti
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 CZ and Friends
  • Show Website
    CZ and Friends

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