Rob Keller, Associate General Counsel at Cisco, joins Sara Morgan, CRO at Axiom and host of today’s Axiom Insights show, to make a counterintuitive case: Data governance is legally more significant than AI itself.
Overseeing Cisco’s product legal for $24B in annual revenue, Rob explains why GCs should prioritize overlapping EU regulations without stalling launches, why legal should be involved in product development years earlier, what good AI vendor diligence looks like, and two near-term items GCs should ensure they’re not missing: California AB 2013 and EU high-risk AI use case directives, due this summer.
Cisco's legal department exceeds 500 professionals and fields dedicated AI governance and government compliance teams—a scale that’s clearly pushing the upper-end of in-house legal functions. For leaner legal departments navigating the same regulatory wave, Rob recommends leaning on outside expertise and scaling up through partner resources for high-volume compliance work: contract review, repapering, and policy updates. Today’s episode also addresses how geopolitical instability is reshaping data sovereignty strategy globally.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of Rob Keller in his personal capacity and do not represent or reflect the views, positions, or official statements of Cisco Systems, Inc. or any of its affiliates.
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Speakers
Rob Keller
Senior Director and Associate General Counsel
Cisco
Sara Morgan
Chief Revenue Officer
Axiom
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