The Mid-Atlantic region is one of the country’s most dynamic hubs for artificial intelligence (AI) development. With a deep bench of top-tier technical talent, leading universities and incubators, combined with industry and venture investment, this is an exceptional time to build and scale AI companies in the region. Join us as we team up to bring a curated group of innovative AI companies to present to a room of venture, growth equity, corporate, and institutional investors.
This forum will feature:
- Thought leadership: Discussions on the current investment climate, market trends, and the future of AI.
- Company showcase: Presentations from some of the region’s most promising AI companies.
- Networking opportunities: Time to connect with investors, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and corporate executives.
CALL FOR COMPANIES
We are seeking a limited number of exciting, up-and-coming, innovative AI companies to be part of our showcase. To apply for consideration, please click here to complete our brief application form.
Applications are due by Friday, April 24.
AGENDA
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Registration
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Program
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Reception
Join us for our 2026 International Arbitration Forum, a half-day program featuring a networking lunch and interactive panels on cutting-edge issues in international arbitration. Leading practitioners, arbitrators, in-house counsel, and institutional representatives will address disputes arising from collaboration and licensing agreements, drafting effective arbitration clauses, improving efficiency (including emerging AI tools), and evolving ethics issues such as confidentiality and third-party funding. CLE credit is pending.
The event will offer 4 hours of CLE credit (3 hours substantive and 1 hour ethics). The panels will encourage audience participation and engagement.
Schedule
8:00 a.m. | Registration and Breakfast
8:45 a.m. | Opening Remarks
9:00 a.m. | Arbitrating Collaboration and Licensing Agreements
Life sciences, technology, and other innovation driven sectors have emerged as significant growth areas for international arbitration, as companies increasingly turn to it to resolve cross border collaboration and licensing disputes. These matters often involve conflicts over milestone payments, complex royalty and “net sales” calculations, ownership and use of background and foreground intellectual property and data, and allegations of misappropriation of trade secrets or misuse of licensed technology, all of which demand both procedural neutrality and technical sophistication. Similarly, mergers and acquisitions that include earnout or other contingent payment provisions raise many of the same issues, as parties later dispute the financial and operational metrics used to calculate those payments, the efforts undertaken to achieve them, and the information needed to verify performance across jurisdictions. This session explores how these new entrants to international arbitration are shaping practice and examines common dispute flashpoints and strategic considerations for effective resolution.
Moderator: Victoria Alvarez, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Panelists: Maia Harris, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Jeremy Heep, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Ying Zeng, Partner, Han Kun
10:15 a.m. | Drafting Effective Arbitration Clauses Agreements
International arbitration remains a preferred forum for many in cross-border disputes, but users continue to grapple with rising cost, delay, and growing procedural complexity. This session brings together in-house, outside counsel, and institutional perspectives to examine how tools such as emergency and expedited procedures, robust case management techniques, and innovations like AAA ICDR’s AI Arbitrator are reshaping expectations about speed, fairness, and enforceability. Panelists will discuss where these developments are delivering genuine value, where they fall short, and when other ADR mechanisms may offer more practical solutions for parties seeking faster, more cost effective outcomes.
Moderator: Cal Stein, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Panelists: Matt Adler, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Stuart Dutson, Partner, Stephenson Harwood
Vaughn Morrison, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Armeen Mistry Shroff, Legal Counsel, Bosch USA
11:30 a.m. | Speed and Substance: Rethinking Efficiency in International Arbitration
International arbitration remains a preferred forum for many in cross-border disputes, but users continue to grapple with rising cost, delay, and growing procedural complexity. This session brings together in-house, outside counsel, and institutional perspectives to examine how tools such as emergency and expedited procedures, robust case management techniques, and innovations like AAA ICDR’s AI Arbitrator are reshaping expectations about speed, fairness, and enforceability. Panelists will discuss where these developments are delivering genuine value, where they fall short, and when other ADR mechanisms may offer more practical solutions for parties seeking faster, more cost effective outcomes.
Moderator: Tom Kinney, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Panelists: David Harrell, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Matt Mulqueen, Partner, Accura
Lisa Romeo, Vice President, AAA-ICDR
Zach Torrres-Fowler, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
12:30 p.m. | Lunch and Networking Break
1:30 p.m. | Ethics in Modern Arbitration: Confidentiality, Third-Party Funding, and More
Confidentiality has long been a cornerstone of international arbitration’s appeal, but that foundation faces growing pressure from third-party funding disclosure requirements, broader transparency movements, and public court filings during enforcement proceedings. This session brings together in-house and outside counsel to examine how these forces are reshaping confidentiality expectations. Panelists will explore ethical complexities surrounding funder conflicts and disclosure obligations, along with practical protective measures including confidentiality agreements with funders, strategic redactions, and procedural orders to limit exposure.
Moderator: Indira Sharma, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Panelists: Leslie Davis, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Kamal Shah, Partner, Stephenson Harwood
Conna Weiner, Arbitrator, Conna Weiner ADRC
Please join Troutman Pepper Locke attorneys at our Happy Hour event during Nareit’s REITwise conference. Join us for a lively evening for cold drinks, good conversation, and networking.
As AI continues to drive unprecedented demand for data center capacity, developers, owners, operators, and capital providers must revisit their project delivery, contracting, permitting, and stakeholder strategies. Traditional risk allocation and deal structures are antiquating under energy constraints, interconnection delays, supply chain pressure, and evolving federal and state regulatory frameworks around air, water, and large load power usage.
This three part webinar series brings together Troutman Pepper Locke construction, energy, environmental, and real estate attorneys to explore how these dynamics are reshaping the data center landscape in 2026 and beyond. Each session will provide practical perspectives on how market participants are reallocating risk, structuring contracts, and positioning projects to remain bankable and scalable in a rapidly changing environment.
CLE credit will be available.
Session 1 – Rewriting the Rules: 2026 Data Center Contracting & Risk Allocation for AI-Driven Facilities
Tuesday, March 31 | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET | Zoom
Speakers: Jason Spang, Vaughn Morrison, Carl Bivens, Brandon Lobb
Moderator: Jamey Collidge
As AI-driven workloads push data centers to unprecedented levels of scale and power intensity, traditional construction and real estate risk allocation are being rewritten. Join us for a practical, cross-disciplinary discussion of how operators, contractors, and power providers are reshaping contracts for data center projects — from interconnection and schedule risk to supply chain pressure and innovative, behind-the-meter power solutions.
Key Topics:
- Power and Grid Risk: How contracts address interconnection delays, power constraints, and “grid risk” across the project stack.
- Supply Chain and Price Volatility: Tools to manage long-lead equipment, early procurement, tariff developments, and pricing swings while preserving budget certainty.
- Standards, Compliance, and Liability: Balancing schedule pressure with equipment standards, code compliance, and risk allocation.
- Construction in Live Facilities: Approaches to outage planning, uptime exposure, and SLAs when building in operating data centers.
- Hybrid and Behind-the-Meter Power: Contracting for campus, modular, and alternative power solutions while managing interface and performance risk.
Session 2 – Permitting and Regulatory Challenges and Uncertainty
Tuesday, April 21 | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET | Zoom
Speakers: Mack McGuffey, Melissa Horne, Carl Bivens, Casey Bell
Moderator: Jamey Collidge
Driven by the rapid expansion of AI and other digital infrastructure, data centers are facing heightened regulatory scrutiny over energy use, emissions, and community effects. This webinar will explore the latest environmental and infrastructure considerations that influence project timelines, siting decisions, and risk allocation in high‑growth markets, including how emerging regulatory frameworks may influence permitting strategies and utility relationships.
Key Topics:
- Major vs. Minor Permits: Understanding the differences between major and minor air permits, and how those classifications affect project timelines, costs, and flexibility.
- Temporary Power Options – Turbines vs. Engines: Comparing turbines and reciprocating engines for temporary power, including efficiency, emissions, permitting implications, and deployment speed.
- Managing Curtailment and Outages: Strategies to address curtailment and power outages, and how these risks influence project design, contracting, and operational planning.
- Air Quality and Site Selection: How existing local air quality and attainment status should factor into siting decisions, permitting risk, and long-term expansion potential.
- Air Dispersion Modeling Demystified: What air dispersion modeling is, when it is required, and why its assumptions and results are critical to permitting outcomes and project design.
- Air Permit Challenges and Project Risk: The likelihood and mechanics of air permit challenges, and how appeals, public comments, and litigation can impact project schedules and stakeholder engagement.
Session 3 – The Owner’s Playbook: Navigating Power, Policy, and Performance in Data Center Development
Thursday, May 14 | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET | Zoom
Registration details coming soon.
Click here to add Session 3 to your calendar.
Speakers: Jason Spang, Matt Dials, Cindy DeLisi
Moderator: Jamey Collidge
In a market defined by power constraints, regulatory flux, and rapid technological change, data center owners, operators, and capital providers are rethinking how they structure, finance, and deliver projects. Join us for a candid, owner-focused discussion on how to preserve bankability, manage evolving risks, and negotiate smarter contracts for the next wave of data center development.
Key Topics:
- Bankability Under Pressure: How owners and investors are underwriting data center projects amid power, interconnection, and permitting uncertainty — and what still counts as “bankable.”
- Permits, Policy, and Change-in-Law Risk: Practical ways to address permitting delays, new environmental conditions, and change-in-law risk in long-term deals.
- Coordinating Construction, Procurement, and Capital: Aligning early equipment purchases, modular delivery, and nontraditional payment profiles with lender expectations.
- Performance Guarantees and Owner-Side Outage Risk: Flowing down lease requirements, defining commissioning and acceptance, and capturing owner/tenant needs in construction contracts.
- Portfolio and Site Strategy for the Next Wave of Data Centers: How owners are selecting markets, managing jurisdictional and regulatory differences, planning for future upgrades, and accounting for community impacts and labor availability.
- Deal Table Pinch Points: Where owners/developers and contractors most often clash on risk allocation — and approaches to closing the gap.
Troutman Pepper Locke is proud to host the National Society of Compliance Professionals’ Compliance Seminar for Private Fund Managers. Troutman partner Genna Garver will be speaking on the “Emerging Technologies: AI and Digital Assets in the Private Funds Industry panel.”
The CCBCA will host its next in-person two-day Winter Conference on Wednesday and Thursday, February 25–26, 2026, at the Troutman Pepper Locke Washington, D.C office.
The program will focus on the legal, regulatory, and compliance issues most important to CCBCA members, offering practical guidance on navigating emerging requirements and evolving enforcement priorities. Attendees will hear insights on current developments, best practices for managing risk, and strategies for strengthening compliance programs in a complex and changing environment.
Join Troutman Pepper Locke attorneys Amanda Hassan, Peter Jeydel, and Ryan Last for a webinar discussing how life sciences companies can assess and mitigate risk around cross border distribution arrangements in today’s evolving trade and national security environment. The webinar will cover compliance considerations related to import laws (including tariffs, audits, and labeling), export controls, sanctions, and anti-corruption (FCPA). The discussion will also cover how organizations can adequately vet suppliers, distributors, sub-distributors, agents, etc. and appropriately allocate risk and responsibility.
The training is approved for credit in California, Connecticut (through reciprocity), Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey (through reciprocity), New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas. Credit for other jurisdictions may be available upon request. For more information, please email CLE Management.
With state legislatures reconvening for 2026, numerous states are considering privacy and AI bills on a broad range of topics. In the AI space, these bills cover high-risk activities, chatbots, pricing, disclosures, provenance, employment, and health, among other topics. In the privacy space, these bills cover consumer data privacy, teen’s privacy, biometric privacy, consumer health data privacy, and data brokers. During this webinar, we will provide a high-level overview of the types of bills introduced to date, the states where we are seeing the most activity, and what to expect as the year unfolds.
The International Law Committee (ILC) of the Philadelphia Bar Association invites you to a lunchtime program at Troutman Pepper Locke’s Philadelphia office. We will be exploring two timely and interrelated topics at the intersection of labor, technology, and comparative law.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2026
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (Lunch and Program)
Location: Troutman Pepper Locke
3000 Two Logan Square
18th and Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Program Overview
From post-employment restrictions to the power of digital platforms, workers and users increasingly navigate systems designed—and sometimes constrained—by law, policy, and technology. This program will offer a comparative look at developments in France, the European Union, and the United States.
Non-Compete Clauses: Between Freedom of Work and Competition
Speaker: Theo Arcin, visiting French intern at Troutman Pepper Locke and Élève-Avocat à l’École des Avocats de Rhône-Alpes.
Can an employee be prevented from working after leaving a company—and at what cost?
This presentation examines non-compete clauses as a reflection of fundamental choices made by legal systems about freedom of work, competition, and innovation.
Responsibilities of Hosting Providers in the Digital Age
Speaker: Matteo Rubolino, visiting Italian Law Clerk at Troutman Pepper Locke, LL.M. graduate, candidate at the New York State Bar and Italian Bar.
Have you ever paused to question the truth of what you read online—or whether the content you encounter is verified, secure, and respectful of your privacy? In an environment where misinformation spreads easily and personal data is vulnerable, hosting providers play a pivotal role.
About the International Law Committee and Internship Program
For more than 28 years, French interns have come to Philadelphia to undertake a six‑month internship with Troutman Pepper Locke. As part of this longstanding program, it has become a tradition for them to conclude their visit by presenting on a topic of interest in French and European law, often in comparative perspective with U.S. law.
The ILC is delighted to continue this tradition with this year’s program. For more information on this event please visit the Philadelphia Bar Association’s event page.
Registration and Cost
Advance registration is requested no later than Tuesday, February 17, 2026, by 12:00 p.m.
To register, please email: Jennean.Calpin@troutman.com.
There is no charge for this event.
SPEAKERS
- Shana Beldick, Chief Human Resources Office, Troutman Pepper Locke
- Chris Brown, Director of Legal Project Management, Troutman Pepper Locke
- Daniel Burke, Managing Director, Pricing + Legal Project Management, Troutman Pepper Locke
- Lauren Chung, Practice Group Lead, Strategy + Transformation, Harbor
- Alison Grounds, Managing Partner, Troutman eMerge
- Bri Lee, Senior Manager, Legal Operations, Capital One
- Erin Murphy, Managing Director of Marketing, Troutman Pepper Locke
- Linda T. Sanders, Director of Client Experience, Troutman Pepper Locke – Host
Thursday, March 12
5:30 p.m. EST | Welcome Reception and Dinner at Yalda West Midtown (980 Howell Mill Rd, Atlanta, GA 30318)
Friday, March 13
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. EST | Registration and Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. EST | Sessions
3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. EST | Wrap Up
The evolution of the legal operations role is changing the way legal departments prioritize, organize, and add value for their organization. This exclusive event is designed especially for legal operations leaders to help you navigate the evolving legal ops landscape. The summit is a valuable opportunity to share insights, examine trends, discuss challenges, and shape a strategic vision for the organization.
The event will kick off with dinner on Thursday, March 12, at Yalda West Midtown , followed by a full day of programming on Friday March, 13. Topics will include:
- State of the Corporate Law Department: Latest Market Insights
- Making Change Stick: Change Management Strategies for Legal Operations
- Maximizing Value with Creative Billing Solutions
- Employee Engagement in Legal Departments: Turning Insight into Action
- The Legal Ops Traffic Cop: Managing Chaos While Driving Strategy
- GenAI in Practice: Case Studies + Collaborative Discussion
To foster an intimate and collaborative environment for openly sharing successes and challenges, attendance is limited to a maximum of two legal operations leaders from each company.
Prior attendees have said the following about the Summit:
- “10000% Yes! This was an extremely valuable use of time and resources to attend this event. Please keep it on the smaller scale. I am already looking forward to attending in the future.”
- “Fabulous event! I really enjoyed the speakers and the content. The small group made the collaboration really easy and fun. I look forward to another great event!”
- “Thoroughly enjoyed this event. It was very informative and had lots of practical application. I thought the group size was great, great topics and format/agenda, great venue. Would definitely attend again.”
There is no cost to attend the summit.
We hope you will be able to join us!
To register or request more information, please contact Stephanie Simpson.