Providing Contemporary Educational Programming Leads Business Law Section Chair’s Agenda
7.21.2026
Luca Melchionna understands the value of education and collaboration through his 30-year career working in higher education and as a transactional attorney.
His background is the basis of his initiatives for the upcoming 11 months where his focus will be on increasing engagement through developing cutting-edge programming.
“My priority is to connect our members with very effective and up to date, technical legal education. I’m not only talking about CLEs, but events in general in which our members see us as an entity that is at the forefront of what is going on right now in the legal profession whether it is AI, agentic AI, or an ethical issue that is related to our work. For me, this is the best way to attract not only seasoned attorneys with 20, 30, or 40 years of experience, but also the younger generation,” Melchionna said.
Navigating the Corporate Counsel Section’s merger with the Business Law Section, which was approved by the House of Delegates at its June 27 meeting, is also at the forefront of his agenda. The former section will now be a committee within the Business Law Section.
Melchionna said the section is excited to build on years of successful joint programing with the new Corporate Counsel Committee.
“We will continue to stand behind the committee’s work just as we have in the past by developing programming and growing its community by re-engaging with in-house corporate attorneys throughout the state,” Melchionna said.
Ultimately, he said his role as chair is to listen to what the association’s members want to accomplish.
He added from his perspective that the section needs to increase its members’ engagement and membership, especially among young and new attorneys to ensure future leaders are in place to sustain the section’s initiatives.
“I would like to continue developing ideas along the way to support the section’s growth. However, I don’t see me as a chair, as somebody who’s coming in with the idea of bringing a sharp transformation. That’s not the point. The point is to improve the Business Law Section’s strengths, to enhance the potential of our brilliant group of attorneys, and to serve the best interests of the association and its members,” Melchionna said.
For now, he said the section is exploring several technological issues including cross border regulations, hallucinations, and bias within AI.
“The deployment and exchange of new technologies (and investments) from the U.S. to Europe and vice versa, and for American companies willing to invest overseas, require a deep understanding of the regulatory fields of domestic and foreign legal architectures, because they are complex. Therefore, the business community should provide guidance on that,” Melchionna said.
Meanwhile, he added that bias and hallucinations within AI outputs are among the most challenging issues facing technology companies today, and that bias is even more problematic than hallucinations.
He noted that the section’s Mergers and Acquisitions Committee is working on a program for the fall regarding the use of AI within the M&A practice. The program will delve into the liability of companies deploying new technologies, specifically those involving AI or cybersecurity.
The section is also hosting a networking event this Friday, July 24 with a guided tour of Grand Central Station where participants will have an opportunity to discover hidden secrets within the walls of one of the world’s most iconic train stations.
Melchionna said that Grand Central is emblematic of the significant culture that exists throughout the state and that it offers attendees a unique setting to engage with each other outside of their offices.
“I still believe that in our profession proximity is a key to success. Getting together to meet face-to-face to discuss common problems is vital.” Melchionna said.
He also mentioned that getting the perspective of experts outside the legal field is invaluable. As an example, he said listening to input from experts within behavioral science, psychology, psychiatry, computer science, and the neuroscience fields, to name a few, is essential to fully comprehend bias within AI.
“Education is critical. So, this is why a goal is to have programs, whether they have CLE credit or not, where we hear from people with different professional backgrounds and distinct experiences because we want to learn. We want to give our members the opportunity to learn something from a different point of view, but related to what they do,” Melchionna said.
