On September 25th, 2019, Prescient’s Associate Director of Communications, Asha Underiner, presented at the 2019 International Bar Association held in Seoul, South Korea on the topic “Technological and Analytic Solutions to Address Evolving Due Diligence Requirements.” Along with Juliet Tainui Hernandez, Partner, Chief Compliance Officer at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP; Valentina Zoghbi, Head of Compliance at CMS; Simon Davis, Head of Commercial Litigation at Clifford Chance; Richard Harrison, Partner, Head of Lawyers’ Liability at Clyde & Co; and Sun Hee Kim, Partner at Yulchon, Asha contributed to a panel titled “The Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other New Technologies in supporting compliance and helping compliance and in-house teams work smarter.” The following reflection represents a continuation of the topics discussed during the meeting.

When it comes to technological breakthroughs, the focus remains on paradigm shifts: everyone wants to take part in the next big thing, the next breakthrough that will revolutionize the way that the world works. As the self-styled Steve Jobs of the healthcare industry, Elizabeth Holmes promised investors this degree of innovation with her startup, Theranos. Years later, with Holmes’ criminal trial date announced for the summer of 2020, her Silicon Valley debacle creeps back into the national spotlight, positing her as a fraud rather than an innovator.

It’s no secret that many of the tech industry’s current giants had humble beginnings as small startups in dire need of financial support from investors. Just the opposite, in fact: once a firm is more established, an underdog story of early self-sufficiency can make for a great marketing campaign about passion, ambition, and leadership coming together to create a service or product - with the help of a little seldom-mentioned outside funding.