If your CEO or management team asked how your company’s AI solution or smart factory relates to data or compute sovereignty, infrastructure dependencies, and enterprise risk, could you confidently engage in that discussion?

 

Or if a colleague asked whether using a particular AI tool is acceptable, could you answer clearly and credibly?

 

The good news: it is not too late to build this capability—but doing so requires being intentional and starting now.

 

This and more were addressed on April 21, 2026, in Tokyo at a joint seminar titled Seeing AI Clearly — A Practical Framework for AI Literacy for Lawyers and Leaders, co‑hosted by southgate law, the Japan Association of Chief Legal Officers (JACLO), and the Japan In‑House Counsel Network (JICN).

 

The session was led by Anthony Luna, M&A & Technology Lawyer at southgate, Adjunct Professor of AI and Law at Keio Law School, Executive Advisor to Smart Governance, and former Director, Board Member, and General Counsel of IBM Japan.

 

AI is now firmly on the board and management agenda, and legal teams are increasingly expected to engage strategically, not just reactively. The session focused on helping legal professionals and leaders build practical AI literacy through a governance lens, enabling informed participation in senior‑level discussions.

 

Key themes included:

• Why AI literacy is now essential for effective legal oversight and decision‑making

• What actually matters from a legal and governance perspective

• How AI creates legal and organizational risk beyond purely technical concerns

• How legal teams can add value in AI discussions without deep technical expertise

• Where to start, including Anthony’s structured AI Stack and AI Model frameworks for unpacking AI use cases

 

The session was not intended to be comprehensive. Instead, it provided a clear starting point and a structured way of thinking about AI that legal professionals can continue to build on.  

Participant feedback overwhelmingly praised the session’s practical value and highlighted a strong demand for further AI literacy training within legal departments and management teams.

 

The presentation materials are executive‑ready and designed for practical internal use. In‑house counsel who were unable to attend may contact Anthony Luna directly for access: aluna@southgate‑law.com

 

The organizers thank all participants who attended in person and appreciate the collaboration among southgate, JACLO, and JICN in making the session possible. Learn more about our supporting firm southgate: https://southgate-law.com/