March 2024

AI for GCs: What You Need to Know for 2024

By: Matt Todd, Reece Clark, Cat Kozlowski and Adam Garcia

     I.   Introduction

Beginning in early 2023, with the publicity and public launch of open-source and powerful and easily applied generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools, the interest and requests for guidance on these tools have exploded. With the spotlight has come swift change. We have been met with some surprises along the way, most notably the accelerated adoption of generative AI tools across a wide variety of applications and use cases. Never have we witnessed such a rapid adoption rate of a technology that has so many legal, business, technical, ethical, social and other considerations.

This unprecedented adoption has driven the evolving nature of both our clients’ concerns and our advice. Having witnessed this evolution, we now want to (a) highlight a new and emerging issue for General Counsels (“GCs”) to consider, (b) provide some interim analysis and forecast on applicable regulation and legislation, and (c) provide GCs with a framework for making “AI decisions” when presented with either a new tool or a new use case. Although there has been a veritable avalanche of AI-related content from law firms, technologists and other pundits around the world, it is our hope that our insight on these three key issues is useful for GCs in the most practical sense and provides some tools which they can deploy. 

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(Below): A sold-out crowd of ACC Saint Louis members enjoyed a walking tour of the St. Louis Art Museum to attend Artful Observation: A View of Black History Month on February 23rd, where they were able to earn 1.5 hours of CLE/Ethics/Elimination of Bias credits.

Helpful ACC Resources for Members!

Did you know that ACC offers numerous resources to its members?

For example, ACC, together with Exterro (one of our Chapter’s resource sponsors), recently released the 2024 ACC Chief Legal Officers Survey results. More than 900 general counsel and chief legal officers from numerous countries and many industry sectors participated in the survey. 

If you are a general counsel, please check it out HERE. If you are not a general counsel, please share the link with your general counsel, others on your team, and check it out yourself! The survey results provide valuable information about challenges and priorities for corporate legal departments.  

Wrap N Pack Update and Photos

(Above and below): Two dozen ACC St. Louis member volunteers turned out at the successful Wrap N Pack charitable event on February 8th at Operation Food Search.

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"The Rap ‘N Pack event was a great success," said event planner, Cierra Heitholt. "Twenty-four members of ACC volunteered their time for the event, and they filled 1,000 bags. We look forward to participating in this event again, hopefully making Rap ‘N Pack an annual Pro Bono Committee event".

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Getting to Know Your 2024 ACC St. Louis Chapter President,

Beverly Garner

 Title: Associate General Counsel

Company: Bunge

In current position for: 22 years

Law School: Washington University, STL

Undergrad: Central Methodist University, Fayette, MO

On January 25, 2024, Beverly Garner was elected the 33rd President of the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel. She has been in her current position for 22 years. Beverly manages Bunge’s claims and litigation matters. Her cases involve antitrust claims, biotech issues, commercial disputes, personal injuries, and environmental enforcement actions. She has led several major internal investigations and coordinated responses to governmental investigations including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, Beverly regularly advises facility personnel concerning industry association rules, contract enforcement, and other day to day operational issues.

Beverly serves on Bunge’s contributions committee, which supports organizations and initiatives related to education and food security in the St. Louis community and throughout the US. Prior to Bunge, Beverly was a partner at Polsinelli and an Associate at Coburn & Croft, now known as Thompson Coburn. Beverly was also a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Elwood Thomas, Missouri Supreme Court. In 2024, she received a Corporate Counsel Award from the St. Louis Business Journal.

In addition to serving on the ACC Board, Beverly serves on the Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of St. Louis. As a Board member, she served on the Capital Campaign Committee for the construction of a new House, the Executive Committee, the Development Committee, and the Golf/Dinner Auction Committee. She also coordinates Bunge’s support of RMHC’s annual Tab Top Pandemonium and other volunteer opportunities to support RMHC. Beverly earned her B.A., English, from Central Methodist University in 1988, summa cum laude. In 1991, she earned her J.D. from Washington University School of Law.

1. If I was not an attorney I would be: If I were not an attorney, I would be a journalist or librarian. I would also like to operate a bed and breakfast

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