The VCGC Euro Conference brings together General Counsels from leading venture firms across Europe and beyond for a programme shaped by the realities of investing in an interconnected and fast-changing market. GCs who work in or alongside Europe navigate cross-border considerations, evolving expectations from partners and LPs, and the operational complexity that comes with managing funds across multiple jurisdictions.
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This gathering creates space for candid discussion and practical insight on the pressures and opportunities influencing venture today. Sessions focus on peer exchange, real problem-solving, and the strategic calls that sit at the centre of the GC’s remit, whether rooted in governance, fundraising, firm operations, or market dynamics.
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VCGC Euro offers an opportunity to broaden perspective, strengthen judgement, and build relationships with peers who understand the pace and nuance of venture. Take part in the conversations that will help firms across the ecosystem move forward with clarity.
Mainstage 1: AI in the Fund: From Rollout to Rocket Fuel
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Fund GCs are the ones vetting AI tools as investment teams push to adopt them, and increasingly deciding what AI means for how the legal team itself is built and staffed. Some use cases are paying off while others quietly get shelved, and most firms are still working out whether a broad platform beats stitching together point solutions. Either way, a lawyer is still reading the output line by line before it goes out the door.
The panel also covers governance: guardrails that don't slow adoption down, where confidentiality and accuracy risks need attention, and how firms are preparing for whatever regulatory clarity comes next year.
Oliver Howley, Partner, Proskauer
Harriet Dedman, Partner, Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company
Josephine Healy, General Counsel, Highland Europe
Franz Hahn, General Counsel, Picus Capital
Mainstage 2: When the Fund Has to Fight: Dispute Lessons for VCGCs
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Most fund disputes never make it to a courtroom, but the decisions along the way are still hard. In a venture community this small, today's adversary is often tomorrow's co-investor or LP reference, which changes how a GC weighs escalating against compromising.
Panellists will also walk through what happens once a matter turns adversarial: when to bring in outside counsel, how privilege holds up across jurisdictions, and how investors with different risk appetites get to the same decision.
Henry Stewart, Partner, Cooley
Anna Kessen, Head of Legal & Compliance, N47
Stuart Hanbury, Chief Legal Officer, Accel
Jason Wolfe, General Counsel & Managing Director, Susquehanna Growth Equity
Mainstage 3: Liquidity Solutions for a New Era
LPs are pushing harder for returns, and fund GCs are increasingly the ones structuring continuation vehicles, working through secondaries, and handling the legal complexity of getting a liquidity deal done. It's work that touches the fund, the portfolio companies involved, and LPs with different appetites for risk and timing, all at once. This panel gets into what that looks like from the GC's seat.
Shawn Atkinson, Partner, Orrick
Ben Robson, General Counsel and Group Compliance Officer, Molten Ventures
Kasit Rochanakorn, Partner & General Counsel, Atomico
Sarah Stafford, Partner, General Counsel, Passion Capital
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Breakout discussion topics may include:
- Fundraising and Fund Formation
- Novel Structuring: Cram-Downs, Pay-to-Plays, and Anti-Dilution
- Legal Tech and AI In-House
- VCGC Landmines When a Portfolio Company is Sold
- Investing in the Front Lines: Leading Defence and Dual-Use Funding Rounds
- The Dual-Hat GC/COO Role
An elite network for GCs at pioneering funds:Â VCGC is The L Suite community specifically tailored for GCs & CLOs at venture funds, angel funds, and startup studio incubators.
As the GC of a high-growth investment fund, you’re the back office MVP. You manage everything from deal docs and liquidity transactions, to fund formation and compliance, to HR and operations. Is there anything you don’t get involved with?
Your partners and portfolio companies think you have all the answers to all the things they don’t, but no one does. That’s why you need a curated community of peers to lean on.
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As an L Suite VCGC member, you get the best of both worlds—a deeply curated, tech-only network of peers facing the same challenges as you, along with access to the broader L Suite community, events, and resources.
