Photo of Marcia Narine Weldon

Marcia Narine Weldon

Subscribe to Marcia Narine Weldon's Posts

Professor Narine Weldon is the director of the Transactional Skills Program, Faculty Coordinator of the Business Compliance & Sustainability Concentration, Transactional Law Concentration, and a Lecturer in Law.

She earned her law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and her undergraduate degree, cum laude, in political science and psychology from Columbia University. After graduating, she worked as a law clerk to former Justice Marie Garibaldi of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, a commercial litigator with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton in New York, an employment lawyer with Morgan, Lewis and Bockius in Miami, and as a Deputy General Counsel, VP of Global Compliance and Business Standards, and Chief Privacy Officer of Ryder, a Fortune 500 Company. In addition to her academic position, she serves as the general counsel of a startup and a nonprofit.  Read More

Follow:Marcia's Linkedin Profile

This year’s symposium, titled Navigating the Relationship Between the Administrative State and Emerging Technology, will focus on the evolving regulatory frameworks around emerging technologies like digital assets and artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies are rapidly transforming the way individuals and businesses engage in commerce, interact socially, and innovate. These advancements, however, raise profound questions about the applicability of existing regulatory structures. The symposium will bring together leading experts to discuss how the administrative state can balance the protection of innovation with the mitigation of risks associated with these technologies, while ensuring that laws evolve to meet the challenges of the future.

We are thrilled to welcome Michele Korver, Head of Regulatory & Operating Partner at a16z crypto, to deliver the opening keynote. Michele’s wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors will provide invaluable insights into the state of digital asset regulation. The event will conclude with a thought-provoking closing address, offering reflections on the key discussions of the day.

Welcome and Opening Remarks (1:15 PM – 1:25 PM)

The symposium will begin with brief welcoming remarks, setting the stage for an afternoon of in-depth discussions and exploring the complexities surrounding the intersection of technology, law, and…

Miami in February. Sunhine. Mojitos. Superbowl Party. Contracts.

Yes. All of these things go together.

Registration is Now Open for Future Contracts Miami!

We’re thrilled to announce that the University of Miami School of Law will host the inaugural Future Contracts Miami conference on February 10-11, 2025!

Featured Topics

How AI is reshaping contracts for law firms and in-house

How UM Law is preparing future lawyers in the age of AI

The rise of contract standardization

Featured Speakers

Darryl Chiang, Director of Legal at Google
Juliet Astbury, Corporate Practice Leader, Dentons
Isabel Parker, Chief Innovation Officer, White & Case
Kyle Pankratz, VP Legal Operations, Mastercard
and so many more!

Event Details

February 10th-11th, 2025

University of Miami Shalala Student Center
1330 Miller Drive, Coral Gables, FL  33146

Featured Event Sponsors

Law Insider
HarveyAI
SimpleDocs

Exclusive Alumni Tickets

Thanks to our sponsors, we’re able to offer 40 FREE all-access passes* (including the Super Bowl Watch Party on Sunday, February 9th): 
 
Register here for your complimentary ticket

See you in Miami!

In law school, students take a professional responsibility exam and then take the MPRE exam. After graduation, they sit through (often boring) continuing legal education courses and try to get that precious ethics credit.

I don’t teach professional responsibility anymore, although I do speak about ethics in my Compliance, Corporate Governance, and Sustainability and my Business and Human Rights courses.

But as business professors, I’m not sure that we spend enough time talking about business ethics. Yes, it’s important to know about conflicts of interests but do we know how to advise our business clients on the issues that affect them?

I get to flex my “ethics” muscles in an interdisciplinary Innovation, Technology, and Design program housed in our School of Engineering, where I teach a course on Ethics, Equity, and Responsibility- basically Ethics and Technology.

They say grading is the worst part of being a professor.

But not this week.

My students in the ITD class brought me to tears reading their final exams.

I was impressed by their projects on regulating technologies like social media, cloning, AI, and robotics, and by their business plans and pitches for new innovations.

I would invest in some of them today if…

If you’re a law professor, please consider sending a team to Miami on January 16th for the University of Miami’s inaugural contract drafting and negotiation competition.

We have slots for 4 more teams and there is no registration fee due to the generosity of our sponsors, Law Insider and SimpleDocs. We are excited to welcome students from the University of Miami, William & Mary, SMU Dedman, St. Thomas (Miami), and North Carolina Central University.

We will award $5000 in cash prizes and students will be in beautiful Miami, Florida in January. What more could you want? We will hold registration open until December 20 or until we fill the slots.

Key dates are below:

Saturday December 21, 2024:

8:00am: Written Round prompt release

Monday January 13, 2025:

5:00pm: Deadline for Written Round contract submission.

8:00pm: Release of Negotiation Round 1 prompt.

All required in-person events will be held at the Newman Alumni Center

6200 San Amaro Dr, Coral Gables, FL 33146

Thursday January 16, 2025

3:00-4:00pm: Registration and Check In

4:00-5:20pm: Negotiation Round 1

5:30-7:00pm: Networking Reception

7:30-10:00pm: Dine Around Dinners

10:00pm: Negotiation Round 2 prompts released.

Friday January 17, 2025

8:30am-10:00am: Continental breakfast available

9:00am-10:00am: Registration and Check In…

In my previous post on a November 7th Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) panel on ESG through the life cycle of a business, I outlined the shifting landscape of ESG in the wake of recent regulatory and social developments in the U.S. This follow-up provides more detail on the insights shared by my fellow panelists, Eugenia Maria Di Marco and Ahpaly Coradin, who explored ESG in the contexts of startups, international markets, private equity, and M&A. As President-elect Trump continues to name cabinet members and advisors, I and others expect that ESG issues will continue to be a hot button issue here in the US.

Ahpaly shared his perspective on ESG trends, particularly in private equity. Although he acknowledged that in the US, interest in ESG is waning, many PE firms still screen for ESG risks at the initial target selection stage and during due diligence. Larger firms see market positioning and risk mitigation as the main benefits of ESG. However, revenue growth and capital allocation are not primary motivators due to the lack of data. He noted that many limited partners are increasingly deploying capital away from sectors like tobacco, alcohol, and to a lesser…

It’s the day after Thanksgiving so I’ll post part 2 of my discussion in ESG in the Trump/Vance era next week.

Today, as students are stressed out over finals, here’s a post to brighten their day. Please share and forward far and wide.

We are pleased to invite your school to send a team to participate in the inaugural University of Miami Transactional Skills Competition, designed to provide law students with an unparalleled opportunity to refine their transactional lawyering skills in a challenging and dynamic setting.

In keeping with the vibrant culture of Miami, the details and challenges for this competition will be sophisticated, unexpected, and innovative, embodying the city’s forward-thinking ethos. This competition presents a distinctive opportunity for law students to engage with real-world, progressive transactional scenarios in emerging industries.

Unlike traditional moot court or contract negotiation contests, this event invites participants to navigate the complexities of contract drafting while considering broader business factors. Through a blend of virtual and in-person rounds, students will manage high-stakes negotiations while developing essential skills in negotiation, strategic thinking, and client representation. This comprehensive experience prepares participants to excel in transactional law, providing them with the expertise necessary to succeed at the intersection…

Two days after the US election, I moderated and participated on a Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) panel on  ESG through the life cycle of a business with Eugenia Maria Di Marco, who focused on startups and international markets, and Ahpaly Coradin, who focused on M&A, private equity, and corporate governance.

I shared these stats with the audience before we delved into the discussion:

  • In July 2024, SHRM, the
    • …

    A law firm recently reached out to me to conduct a CLE on Mental Health Challenges in the Age of AI. It was an interesting request. I’ve spoken about AI issues on panels, as a keynote speaker, and in the classroom, and I wrote about it for Tennessee Journal of Business Law. I also conduct workshops and CLEs on mental health in the profession. But I’ve never been asked to combine the topics. 

    Before I discussed issues related to anxiety about job disruption and how cognitive overload affects the brain, I spent time talking about the various tools that are out there and how much our profession will transform in the very near future.

    If you’re like many lawyers I know, you think that AI is more hype than substance. So I’ll share the information I shared with the law firm.

    According to a  2024 Bloomberg survey on AI and the legal profession, 69% of Bloomberg survey respondents believe generative AI can be used ethically in legal practice. But they harbor “extreme” or “moderate” concerns about deep fakes (e.g., human impersonations, hallucinations and accuracy of AI-generated text,  privacy, algorithmic bias, IP, and of course, job displacement.

    Those are…

    I’m super excited to attend and moderate a panel on How to Improve Your Contract Skills with Gen AI Tools and Products at the ContractsCon in Las Vegas from January 22-23, 2025. As the GC for a startup and a nonprofit, and someone who directs the Transactional Skills Program for a law school, I have to stay up to date on the future of contracts for my clients and to prepare our students for a world that will be completely different from the one they expected.

    This is not the typical boring CLE. How to Contract Founder, Laura Frederick describes it as “practical training for the work you do all the time.For every mega M&A transaction or financing, there are thousands of regular contracts that companies handle day-in and day-out. This training helps you learn how to do those BETTER with strategies based on best practices used by top lawyers with solid real-world in-house experience. Have a ton of experience already? This event is perfect for lawyers and professionals with 10+ years of contract experience too. We’ve added a whole day of training built to teach advanced contract skills. Plus you can connect with your peers and help out…

    If you’re in North Carolina, or just passionate about the topic, consider coming to the NCCU 2024 Law and Technology Symposium and Summit October 10–11, 2024 at the Durham Convention Center. The symposium dives deep into generative AI and its impact on healthcare, while the summit offers a broader look at AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, emerging trends in tech policy, legal services regulation, and more. 

    To register for the Symposium on October 10, please email techlawpolicyctr@nccu.edu.

    To register for the Summit on October 11, where I’m speaking,  click on the “Register Today” link.

    The organizers are still finalizing speakers, but if you come, look out for me on the Legal Risks in Cybersecurity Investigations panel. My co-panelists include Tylin Woodstock of Cisco Systems and Daniel Shin of William & Mary Law School.

    The full agenda and impressive line up of speakers for the October 11 Summit , including two members of Congress, is below.

    8:00 AM ET

    Registration

    8:00 AM-3:00 PM8:40 AM ET

    Welcome

    8:40 AM-8:45 AM

    April Dawson

    Associate Dean of Technology and Innovation and Professor of Law 

    North Carolina Central University School of Law 8:45 AM ET

    Greetings

    8:45 AM-9:15 AM

    Alyn Goodson

    Executive Vice Chancellor 

    North…