In-House Counsel Solutions Series: 3Q 2026

This is the 3Q installment of our In-House Counsel Solutions Series for our blog Ideate. The series is focused on identifying trending legal issues facing in-house counsel and providing practical solutions to these problems.

In this issue, we highlight recent developments and practical insights across litigation strategy, regulatory compliance, and artificial intelligence. We examine the early "exit ramps" available in litigation — including motions to dismiss and summary judgment — and what businesses should realistically expect in terms of cost and timing. We look at the growing legal fight over "prediction market" platforms and whether they constitute legitimate trading or unregulated gambling. We also explore two distinct AI-related risks facing companies today: how "shadow AI" is creating a new category of data breach exposure, and how employees sharing information with AI chatbots may be inadvertently compromising trade secret protection.

The Biggest Trade Secret Leak in Your Company May Be Your AI Chatbot

By Darin M. Klemchuk

Artificial intelligence has become one of the most powerful productivity tools ever introduced into the workplace. Employees use AI to draft emails, summarize contracts, write software code, analyze spreadsheets, prepare presentations, brainstorm new ideas, and perform countless other tasks. In many organizations, AI has become as commonly used as Microsoft Word or Google Search.

Unfortunately, many companies have adopted AI much more quickly than they have adopted policies governing its use. The result is a growing (and often invisible) risk to one of a company’s most valuable assets: its confidential information and trade secrets. Most executives worry about cybercriminals stealing trade secrets through sophisticated hacks. But in reality, the biggest trade secret leak may already be happening inside the organization, one employee prompt at a time.

A comprehensive discussion on how AI use in the workplace can put a company's trade secrets and confidential information at risk, along with practical governance, policy, and training steps to protect it, can be found at our Ideate blog: https://www.klemchuk.com/ideate/trade-secret-leak-ai-chatbot by Darin M. Klemchuk, CEO, Member, and Founder.

Shadow AI and PII: The Breach Risk Many Companies Are Overlooking

By Mark Stachiw

Most companies have spent years preparing for traditional cybersecurity incidents. A growing number now face a different kind of exposure: employees entering sensitive business or personal information into unapproved artificial intelligence tools. This practice, often called shadow AI, can create serious legal and operational risk. If those tools receive personally identifiable information (PII), confidential business records, or regulated data, the result may be an unintended disclosure event with consequences that look very similar to a traditional third party data breach.

A comprehensive discussion on shadow AI and the data breach risks it poses to companies — including a real-world SEC disclosure example and practical steps for reducing exposure — can be found at our Ideate blog: https://www.klemchuk.com/ideate/shadow-ai-data-breach-risk by Mark Stachiw, Of Counsel.

Litigation’s ‘exit ramps’; practical tools for avoiding trial

By Brian Casper

For in-house counsel, litigation strategy is often as much about identifying opportunities to resolve a case efficiently as it is about preparing for trial. Your Litigator’s Tactical Toolkit: Part One provides an overview of several procedural “exit ramps” that can potentially end or narrow litigation before trial: motions to dismiss, discovery, summary judgment, and settlement. The key point for business clients is that a case rarely proceeds in a straight line from complaint to trial; understanding these opportunities can help counsel manage cost, timing, risk, and expectations.

This first article in our series provides a broad overview of those concepts. The later articles in the series will take each tool in turn, explaining when it is available, what it can realistically accomplish, and what clients should expect in terms of cost, timing, and strategy.

A comprehensive discussion on the litigation exit ramps that can help avoid the cost and time of trial — including motions to dismiss, the discovery process, and summary judgment — can be found at our Ideate blog: https://www.klemchuk.com/ideate/litigators-tactical-toolkit-part-one by Brian Casper, Member.

Prediction Markets — Legitimate Trading or Gambling?

By Rich Wynne

The past several years have witnessed widespread growth in online sports-betting sites like DraftKings, FanDuel, and others. While these services are being endorsed and promoted by professional sports leagues, nearly twenty states, including Texas, prohibit their use because they violate the states’ gambling laws. Does that mean that it is illegal in these states to offer online services that allow customers to make or lose money based on the customers’ predictions about the outcome of a game or other event? For the time being at least, the answer is “no” due to the rise of so-called “prediction markets.”

A comprehensive discussion on whether prediction market platforms constitute legitimate futures trading or a form of unregulated gambling, along with the ongoing legal battle between state regulators and the CFTC over jurisdiction, can be found at our Ideate blog: https://www.klemchuk.com/ideate/prediction-markets-gambling-laws by Rich Wynne, Senior Councel.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.