Meet the speaker
Zhaoying (Dorothy) Du, Global Head of Legal at Motorola Mobility, now Legal Leader of Global Supply Chain Team at Lenovo
At Legal Geek North America 2025, we’re thrilled to welcome Zhaoying (Dorothy) Du, who has led legal teams at both Motorola Mobility and Lenovo (Motorola Mobility is a subsidiary of Lenovo). Dorothy has a wealth of experience in navigating global legal challenges, driving innovation, and shaping legal operations in tech-driven businesses.
We caught up with Dorothy ahead of her session to discuss her career, legal innovation, and the future of in-house legal teams.
You’ve worked across multinational legal teams and complex cross-border transactions. What has been the
most rewarding part of your career so far?
Photo: Zhaoying (Dorothy) Du
The most fulfilling part of my career has been integrating legal strategy with business innovation. I’ve seen firsthand how compliance can be transformed into a competitive advantage rather than just a regulatory requirement. I also love mentoring legal professionals to develop a business mindset and become strategic partners within their organizations.
Another critical aspect has been engaging with regulators. Some lawmakers may lack full insight into business operations, and their decisions can significantly impact industries. Proactively working with them ensures policies are informed, balanced, and support both compliance and innovation.
"Some lawmakers may lack full insight into business operations, and their decisions can significantly impact industries."
Lenovo developed a Legal Assistant AI Chatbot. What inspired this initiative, and what challenges that need to be overcome?
Our goal was to make legal support faster and more accessible across the company. The Chatbot was developed by our Legal Operations team, Knowledge Lawyer, Contract team, and IT team. It instantly answers questions on legal policies, links to templates, and directs inquiries to the right legal contact – improving efficiency, customer satisfaction, and legal resource allocation.
The biggest challenge was getting teams to adopt it. We had to educate stakeholders, refine the AI model with real-world data, and prove efficiency gains to build trust. Ensuring the chatbot only pulled from curated company knowledge was also crucial to prevent AI hallucinations and maintain accuracy.
"It’s not enough to just understand the law anymore - you need to understand how technology can enhance legal operations."
What trends do you think will have the biggest impact on in-house legal teams in the next 3-5 years?
AI-driven legal analytics, automated compliance monitoring, and real-time risk assessment will redefine how legal teams support businesses. AI-powered contract review, dynamic policy enforcement, and regulatory tracking will become standard tools.
Legal professionals need to embrace cross-functional collaboration with IT and data teams. It’s not enough to just understand the law anymore – you need to understand how technology can enhance legal operations and future-proof legal teams.
What’s an unconventional lesson about legal innovation that more legal teams should embrace?
Legal teams should think like product designers, not just risk mitigators. Traditionally, legal departments focus on reviewing and approving – but real innovation happens when lawyers work alongside product, finance, operations and many other teams to co-develop automation, workflows, and decision-making frameworks.
At Lenovo/Motorola Mobility, embedding legal thinking early in product development – especially in areas like AI and data privacy – has helped avoid major roadblocks down the line.
"Real innovation happens when lawyers work alongside product, finance, operations and many other teams."
Join Dorothy at Legal Geek North America on June 17 at Recess, Chicago, where she’ll share more insights on legal innovation, AI, and the future of in-house legal teams. Don’t miss it!
