Elena R. Baca

As global chair of Paul Hastings LLP's employment law department, Baca coordinates the work of more than 100 lawyers in 14 international offices. She's highly coveted by high-profile companies for confidential and sensitive matters, such as the internal investigation into Live Nation Entertainment's former president Heather Parry and a class action against Dollar Tree Stores Inc.

Somewhere in the midst of all that, Baca developed the firm's "Future of Work" seminar, a traveling event that examines the world of open-ended legal questions in employment.

The inaugural event in San Francisco last month featured topics ranging from the role of artificial intelligence in the workplace to employee data collection and social media.

And unlike other Paul Hastings seminars, which usually feature a panel of the firm's lawyers talking to clients about pitfalls and risk management, Baca invited executives from DocuSign Inc., Facebook Inc. and Finsbury PR, plus experts from the National Center for State Courts and UC Berkeley School of Law.

"Part of it is getting people who are really impacting the tech space to have a discussion about where it's going and how do we best and most responsibly move forward," Baca said. "As these things evolve and as the workplace changes, it's important for us to be on the cutting edge and work with our clients as they sort through problems that don't necessarily have an answer yet."

Companies may not know what effect their tweets have on pending litigation or whether the standard, "We do not comment on pending litigation" media response is good or bad for jury trial. But the topics are ripe for exploring.

"It may not be today's lawsuit but it is today's issue," Baca said.

-- Paula Lehman-Ewing