That shift matters. For most of its history, in-house counsel in our industry operated downstream: reviewing contracts once the terms were set, flagging compliance gaps after a product was already in motion. Important work, but almost entirely reactive.
That playbook doesn't survive AI.
When the technology reshaping an industry moves faster than its governing regulations, the legal function can't afford to wait for the handoff. It has to be in the room where the strategy takes shape, not as a gatekeeper, but as a builder.
From Reviewer to Architect
From the inside, the shift is unmistakable: legal is no longer the last stop before a deal closes. Increasingly, we're at the table when the strategy is being formed.When Silverchair began building out its Universe partner ecosystem to include ScholarOne, for example, the legal team wasn't simply asked to paper the deals. We helped design the framework: standardized commercial terms, scalable commission structures, wind-down provisions, and other terms that made it possible to onboard partners efficiently without sacrificing the protections our clients expect. That kind of infrastructure doesn't come from a team that only reviews what's handed to them. It comes from a legal function that understands the business well enough to build alongside it.
The same is true of AI governance. As publishers integrate AI-powered tools into their workflows, whether for content discovery, peer review support, or editorial assistance, someone has to think carefully about where the data goes, who owns the outputs, and what contractual guardrails should exist among publishers, technology providers, and AI vendors. These questions don't have neat legal precedents. They require us to sit with ambiguity, learn the technology, and craft frameworks that are durable enough to survive a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
Data Privacy as a Living Practice
If you work in scholarly publishing and you aren't thinking about data privacy, you're behind. Full stop.The regulatory landscape — GDPR, CCPA, the UK's PECR, and other emerging frameworks —continues to expand. But the real challenge isn't tracking regulatory change. It's operationalizing privacy principles across complex, multi-product technology environments where legal, engineering, and product teams all must be rowing in the same direction. The in-house counsel who can bridge those conversations, who understands both the regulation and the system architecture, can move the organization forward while mitigating unnecessary risks.
AI Governance Needs Lawyers Who Build
People often assume lawyers and innovation move in opposite directions. I tend to see the opposite: clear, thoughtful legal foundations are what enable innovation to last and scale.Consider the challenge facing any publisher that wants to deploy AI tools across its operations. The questions cascade quickly. Can an AI vendor use publisher content to train its models? What happens to AI-generated outputs: are they copyrightable, and who owns them? If a researcher interacts with an AI-powered discovery tool on a publisher's platform, what consent obligations apply? How do you structure an agreement that accounts for the fact that the AI model itself might change materially between contract signature and renewal?
None of these questions have settled answers. And that's why in-house counsel needs to be engaged early, designing agreements and governance frameworks that give the business room to experiment while protecting the interests of the publishers and researchers who depend on us.
At Silverchair, this has translated into practical work: developing scalable contract templates with thoughtful AI clauses, and governance approaches designed to flex as both technology and regulation evolve. The goal is not to anticipate every outcome, but to build structures resilient enough to absorb change.
Contract Frameworks as Competitive Advantage
I’ll admit “contract framework” isn’t a phrase that grabs much attention, good or bad. But in a platform business serving sophisticated publishers, each with distinct priorities, risk tolerances, and regulatory obligations, the strength of your contract infrastructure directly shapes your ability to move quickly and earn trust.Harmonized terms, clear allocation of risk, and well-designed templates aren't just legal hygiene. They’re also the operational backbone that lets a rapidly growing organization onboard new partners, integrate acquisitions, and respond to client needs without reinventing the wheel. When legal invests proactively in that infrastructure, and helps move us away from manual processes, the returns are tangible: shorter cycle times, fewer surprises, and stronger relationships with the clients we serve.
Counsel the Industry Needs Now
Scholarly publishing is at an inflection point. Business models are shifting. Technology is accelerating. The regulatory landscape is expanding. And the publishers, societies, and researchers at the center of it all are looking for partners they can trust to navigate this complexity.In-house counsel has a unique opportunity and, I'd argue, a responsibility, to step into that role as a strategic partner: the function that enables the organization to say “yes” with confidence. That means building legal infrastructure before it becomes urgent. It means learning the technology deeply enough to govern it wisely. And it means treating every contract, every compliance program, and every governance framework as part of a larger foundation on which trust is built.
The shape of the role has shifted, quietly, but unmistakably. And if we’re paying attention, we’re meant to shift with it.