Layer by Layer: Catherine Jopling on the Business of Law
Description
Catherine Jopling, General Counsel at MPW Industrial Services, doesn’t lead from behind a desk, she builds trust in the field, layer by layer. In this episode, she shares how she leads legal with empathy, curiosity, and proactive strategy in a decentralized, blue-collar business.
Instead of waiting for crises, Catherine gets ahead of them, visiting sites, meeting people where they are, and building systems that make legal a value driver, not a cost center. Whether she’s coding a risk registry in SharePoint or talking AI with her executive team, she proves that innovation doesn’t require big budgets, just resourcefulness and courage.
🎙 Highlights:
- Leading a lean team of 7 serving 4,000+ across North America
- Legal as a proactive partner, not a reactive fixer
- DIY tech: Building risk tools with ChatGPT + SharePoint
- Trust as the foundation, human connection > automation
- Leadership lessons from books, site visits, and Whitney Houston
💡 Takeaways:
- Build trust before it’s needed
- Innovate with what you have
- Legal can and should drive value
- AI is powerful, but relationships are everything
🎯 Try this:
Reconnect with someone in your org before you need to. And take one small step toward building something new, just like Catherine.
🎧 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Share this episode and take your career from now to next!
💡To learn more about the future of legal innovation, visit https://cowengroup.com/
Never eat alone!
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