Meet Jeremy Otis – General Counsel at CUJO AI

This year, Jeremy Otis joined CUJO AI as the General Counsel. We did a short interview about his background at some of Finland’s top companies and found out which two of our colleagues lured him back to Finland.

Jeremy, tell us a bit about your professional journey.

I have been working for a number of different companies in Finland’s cybersecurity and technology sectors since 2001. I was first an outside counsellor and later an in-house counsel at what used to be Stonesoft.

After a few subsequent stops as a senior lawyer at Nokia and Head of Legal at F-Secure I joined Eniram, a software and data analytics firm in Finland which was later acquired by Wärtsilä, Finland’s big marine engine manufacturer. I enjoyed my time working for a large, listed company in the heavy industrial sector, which included a fascinating stint as Legal Director for the Americas region where I was based in south Florida.

How did you decide to go back to Finland and join CUJO AI?

My home is in Finland and my professional soul is in tech and security, so after a few discussions with Santeri and Seppo in 2019, I was happy to have the chance to return to Finland and join CUJO AI in 2020.

As the General Counsel at CUJO AI you’re heading the legal functions in an innovation-driven B2B company. How does your department look like and what does it do?

CUJO AI’s Legal Department covers 3 primary areas: Compliance and Governance, IP Management, and contracts, handled by Raimundas, Tuula-liina and me, respectively.

You’ve worked with the team for a while now, what are your impressions?

Together, this team brings more than 50 years’ combined experience to the table and I am super confident that we are up for the task of building an environment where valuable technology can be created, distributed and protected in a consistent, scalable manner.

This team brings more than 50 years’ combined experience.

What’s your most important task for the first year in the company?

The initial mission of CUJO AI’s new Legal Department is to establish governance policies and procedures to limit CUJO AI’s core operational and legal risks, facilitate fast, cost-efficient contracting and ensure that we can most fully exploit and protect the valuable IPRs that our people create.

Let’s talk a bit about lawyers: how do experts from the legal industry see AI companies?

The legal community views AI companies like ours as cutting-edge performers in a sexy, growing and sometimes risky field that often demands taking calculated risks – we are thus rather attractive to have as a client. Our goal is to work with a select group of outside experts to learn about our exposure to risks before bold decisions are made.

The legal community views AI companies like ours as cutting-edge performers in a sexy, growing and sometimes risky field that often demands taking calculated risks.

What do you think are the most pressing cybersecurity-related legal issues today?

One of the big legal issues in our industry today revolves around ensuring the free flow of data across borders. Having reliable access to useful, voluminous global data is in many respects the lifeblood of AI-based cybersecurity solutions like ours.

How are these issues handled around the world?

In Europe and abroad, National regulations often impede the ability to gather data on cyber threats from all countries. We are hoping EU will lower these hurdles. Further, we work closely with our customers and suppliers to ensure that developments in data privacy rules, such as this summer’s breakdown of the EU-US Privacy Shield framework following the Shrems II ruling, do not have a significant impact on our ability to deliver our services.

We want to thank Jeremy for taking the time to introduce himself. Read more about our company’s developments, cybersecurity news, AI and IoT challenges in the CUJO AI blog. Want to join CUJO AI? See open positions on our Careers page.