Ben Ostapuk: From Patent Litigator to Chief Legal Officer | Ep 10

Ben Ostapuk's career has taken him from patent litigation at leading law firms to senior leadership at Intel and, today, the Chief Legal Officer role at Pegasystems.After more than a decade in Big Law, Ben joined Intel's in-house litigation team and spent the next 15 years developing into what he describes as "a business executive who happens to have a legal background."In this episode of Alias Expert Interviews, host Michael Collins speaks with Ben about that evolution and what modern corporate legal leadership requires.They discuss:• Moving from Big Law to an in-house legal team• How the CLO role has evolved beyond traditional legal advice• What boards and executives expect from senior legal leaders• Why great legal teams work shoulder to shoulder with the business• Managing risk without trying to eliminate it• Building long-term relationships with outside counsel• Leading global litigation across multiple jurisdictions• Responding to a $2 billion trial loss at Intel• Navigating disruption across semiconductors, software, and AI• Why preventing bad outcomes makes legal value difficult to demonstrate• Establishing an organization's risk tolerance• The importance of judgment, trust, and international experience• Why human expertise remains critical as AI changes legal workThroughout the conversation, Ben explains how each stage of his career required learning a different way to operate and why the skills that make someone an excellent lawyer are only part of what eventually makes someone an effective Chief Legal Officer.It's a conversation about judgment, adaptability, relationships, risk, and learning how to lead when the answers aren't black and white.