By Gwyneth K. Shaw
A new course in Berkeley Law’s innovative LL.M. Certificate in AI Law and Regulation program gave students a close look at how artificial intelligence is reshaping corporate strategy in an era of geopolitical rivalry, market hype, and regulatory uncertainty.
Corporate Strategy in the Age of AI and Geopolitics featured guest speakers from leading AI companies and thinkers shaping the broader policy debate with a focus on how CEOs, chief legal officers, and corporate boards are responding to AI’s disruptive potential.
Taught by Berkeley Center for Law and Business Executive Director Angeli Patel ’20, the class drew lessons from corporate governance, antitrust, and M&A law to analyze the most current developments in the AI explosion — from export bans and high-stakes partnerships to investor bets and boardroom crises.
“I think we train lawyers exceptionally well to identify legal risk,” Patel says. “But increasingly, the most interesting lawyers aren’t just being asked, ‘Can we do this?’ They’re being asked, ‘Should we do this, how should we do it, and what happens if we do?’ That requires a much broader kind of judgment.”
“A lawyer advising a company today has to understand not just the law, but technology, geopolitics, capital, public opinion, organizational incentives, and business strategy — and then help make a decision under conditions of uncertainty.”
That’s what motivated Patel to teach the course, one of two new additions to the AI Law and Regulation program, which began in August 2024. It’s the first of its kind at an American law school and has attracted students from more than 40 countries, including lawyers working in the U.S. looking to broaden their expertise.
“I wanted students to get out of the posture of simply spotting issues and into the posture of making choices,” Patel says. “The legal answer is often only one input into a much bigger strategic decision — and I want my students to feel ready to operationalize systems thinking on the C-suite.”
At the forefront of a changing landscape
Built on the bedrock of the law school’s vaunted law and technology program, the certificate is open for applications from students interested in the LL.M. executive track program, which is completed over two summers or through remote study with one summer on campus.
Alongside new offering AI in Biotechnology Law, Patel’s course bolstered the program’s original curriculum, including The Law and Governance of Artificial Intelligence, Global Regulation of AI, and Making AI Work for the People.
“AI and geopolitics made a particularly compelling backdrop because they expose the limits of purely legal analysis. The rules are changing, the technology is changing, and sometimes the consequences of a decision arrive long before the law does,” says Patel, a startup advisor and entrepreneur herself. “In those moments, lawyers have an opportunity to be more than the people who define the guardrails. They can help decide where the company is actually going and interface with government and society.”
The heart of the course was student participation, offering the chance to engage with one another and with guest speakers like American Airlines Vice Chair and Chief Strategy Officer Stephen Johnson ’83, Google DeepMind Senior Counsel Jerry Torres, former Unity Technologies Chief Legal Officer Anirma Gupta, Reddit Deputy General Counsel Julie Rogers, and business, geopolitics, and AI expert Amy Larsen, who’s also a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The students really embraced the challenge she set for them, Patel says.
“Our best conversations were rarely about finding the single correct answer; they were about identifying the tradeoffs, deciding which risks mattered, and being able to defend a choice,” she says.
Resonating with students
Those discussions were a highlight for Italian LL.M. student Francesca Di Lazzaro, who’s pursuing the AI certificate.
“This class gave me a different way of thinking about the challenges companies are facing today,” she says. “I especially liked how Patel connected AI, geopolitics, business strategy, and the role of lawyers, rather than looking at these issues in isolation. Her approach made the discussions very engaging and encouraged us to think beyond the traditional legal perspective.
“I really appreciated the guest speakers and the opportunity to hear directly from practitioners who are dealing with these issues in the real world. Their different perspectives and experiences brought the topics to life and made the discussions much more concrete and relevant to my professional experience.”
Students also had to write either one 2,000-word or two 1,200-word papers from the perspective of the chief legal and strategy officer at a real company of their choice to the CEO and the board facing a significant geopolitical, political, legal, technological, or macroeconomic disruption that might force the company to reconsider its approach.
Patel directed students to identify the situation and analyze the risks, the business stakes, and the possible societal implications, set a list of priorities, and then make a recommendation to the board about what the company should do.
Di Lazzaro says one of her main takeaways from the class was the importance of looking beyond individual legal or business issues and understanding how different forces interact. The discussions around supply chains, critical resources, AI infrastructure, technology competition, capital, and corporate power helped Di Lazzaro develop a broader strategic perspective on the challenges companies and their legal advisors face today.
“I also found the course valuable in highlighting the evolving role of lawyer,” she adds. “It reinforced for me that effective legal advice increasingly requires not only understanding the law, but also understanding business strategy, geopolitical developments, operational realities, and broader societal implications.
“I came away with a much stronger framework for thinking about corporate decision-making in a rapidly changing and uncertain environment.”