Finest General Counsel Selected By The Burton Awards Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 30, 2020
New York, New York: The Burton Awards, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit program, which is run in association with the Library of Congress, presented by lead sponsor Law360, and co-sponsored by the American Bar Association released its list of general counsel who will be named as Legends in Law. This year the Program will be held on June 14, 2021 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Tom Sager, Partner at Ballard Spahr; Les Parrette, Deputy Chairman, Burton Awards and Yabo Lin, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP, who co-chair the Legends in Law Committee stated that “all the winners passed the strictest scrutiny. The general counsel were evaluated based on: an outstanding reputation in the legal profession and a demonstrated track record of addressing complex matters of national or global significance in a specialized area. The honorees have also evidenced leadership, creativity and a uniqueness in approach to resolving challenges confronting their corporate clients. Finally, they are highly respected by the bench and bar for their integrity and professionalism.” Lisa Rickard, Former President of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the sponsor of the Legends in Law event said, “The general counsel that are selected are truly exemplary. They moved the bar even higher because of their stellar records of accomplishments.”
After the Awards Program a Gala will be held, including a Reception with an orchestra. After dinner there will be a performance by singer, songwriter, actor and author, Sara Bareilles, and world-class entertainer and mentalist, Oz Pearlman.
The following General Counsel will be named 2020 Legends in Law*:
Broadcom Inc.
Mark Brazeal
Chief Legal Officer
Amgen
Jonathan Graham
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
TE Connectivity
John S. Jenkins Jr.
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Liberty Mutual Insurance
James Kelleher
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
Southern Company
James Y. Kerr II
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
The Procter & Gamble Company
Deborah P. Majoras
Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
Corporation Service Company
George A. Massih III
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Avantor
Justin Miller
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Syneos Health
Jonathan Olefson
General Counsel and Secretary
McKesson Corporation
Lori A. Schechter
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel
The Clorox Company
Laura Stein
Executive Vice President – General Counsel & Corporate Affairs
Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated
Alan Tse
Chief Legal Officer
CPP Investments
Patrice Walch-Watson
Senior Managing Director, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
*Please see below for short bios.
THE BURTON AWARDS
The Burton Awards, established in 1999, is funded by the Burton Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, academic effort devoted to recognizing and rewarding excellence in the legal profession. The Burton Awards were established to honor the finest accomplishments in law, including writing, reform, public service and interest, regulatory innovation, and lifetime achievements in the profession. The honorary and distinguished Board of Directors of the Burton Awards program includes: William C. Burton, Partner, SagatBurton LLP; Les Parrette, Deputy Chairman, The Burton Awards; Chief Judge Richard Posner, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (retired); U.S. Senator John Cornyn; U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.; U.S. Senator Mike Crapo; U.S. Senator Michael F. Bennet; U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen; U.S. Senator Cory Gardner; U.S. Senator James E. Risch; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; Justice Carol Corrigan, California Court of Appeals; Yabo Lin, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP; Jane Sullivan Roberts, Partner, McLegal Group; Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Lisa Rickard, Former President, U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform; Thomas L. Sager, Partner, Ballard Spahr LLP; James M. Rishwain, Jr., Chairman Emeritus, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP; Betty Whelchel, Former Head of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, BNP Paribas SA; Linda A. Klein, Senior Managing Shareholder at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz and Past President, American Bar Association; and Stephen R. Mysliwiec, Partner, DLA Piper LLP (US).
LAW360, LEAD SPONSOR
Law360, a LexisNexis company, is a trusted provider of breaking legal news and in-depth analysis, with up-to-the-minute, comprehensive coverage of litigation, regulation and enforcement, legislation, administrative proceedings, executive actions, corporate deals, legal industry trends, and more. With a unique blend of cutting-edge technology and journalistic expertise, Law360 delivers the intelligence legal and business professionals at top law firms, Fortune 1000 companies, key government agencies, and many other organizations need to remain experts, mitigate risk, and beat the competition.
THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, CO-SPONSOR
With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
This prominent institution is one of the most celebrated and distinguished libraries in the world. It was established on April 24, 1800, and since that time has grown to become one of the largest repositories in history. The Library of Congress functions as both a national library and as the research arm of the U.S. Congress. It contains more than 32 million catalogued books and more than 62 million manuscripts.
U.S. CHAMBER INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL REFORM, LEGEND IN LAW SPONSOR
The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform’s mission is to champion a fair legal system that promotes economic growth and opportunity.
WILLIAM C. BURTON, ESQ., CHAIRMAN
The Founder and Chair of The Burton Awards for Legal Achievement is William C. Burton, Esq., a partner at the law firm of Sagat|Burton LLP. He is a former New York State Assistant Attorney General, a former New York State Assistant Special Prosecutor, and is the author of the first legal thesaurus ever written for the legal profession, entitled Burton’s Legal Thesaurus. The book is now in its 5th edition and quickly approaching its 35th anniversary. When the book was released, the Association of American Publishers recognized it as “one of the Most innovative and creative projects of the year.” In 2011, Mr. Burton was presented the highest honor given by the second largest association of law professors in America, The Legal Writing Institute, for “significantly advancing the cause of legal writing in the profession of law.” More recently, he was awarded the “Blackstone Award” by the Friends of the Law Library of Congress, for “embodying and promoting the best ideals of the institution.” In 2017, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform Individual Achievement Award was presented to Mr. Burton for making the U.S. Justice System “fairer for all.”
The Burton Awards: 2020 Legend in Law Winners – Short Bios
Mark Brazeal is Chief Legal Officer at Broadcom. In this role, he is responsible for the legal, governance, compliance, privacy and government affairs of the company. Prior to his current role, he served as the Chief Legal Officer and Senior Vice President, IP Licensing for SanDisk Corporation, until it was acquired by Western Digital Corporation in 2016. Before joining SanDisk, Mr. Brazeal spent 15 years at Broadcom Corporation in various positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as the Senior Vice President and Senior Deputy General Counsel in charge of all commercial, operational, IP licensing and litigation matters for the company.
Jonathan Graham joined Amgen in 2015 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Before joining Amgen, Graham was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Danaher Corporation. He was responsible for all legal, governance, regulatory, risk, compliance, and EH&S matters. Prior to Danaher, Graham was Vice President, Company and a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. Jonathan Graham is currently the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Amgen, Inc. where he advises the Board, CEO, and senior management on strategic business, legal, governance and related matters at the leading large-cap biotechnology company. He leads a top-tier team of legal professionals expert in governance, IP, litigation, regulatory, commercial, securities, and M&A and collaboration transactions.
John S. Jenkins Jr. is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel of TE Connectivity, where he is responsible for the company’s global legal, compliance, corporate governance, government affairs, intellectual property, security and risk management, and corporate social responsibility activities. He is also responsible for bringing TE’s industry-leading connectivity solutions, engineering, and operations expertise to the emerging markets with focus on India, China, and South America. He joined TE Connectivity in October 2012.
James Kelleher is Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Liberty Mutual Insurance, a global property and casualty insurer. Liberty’s legal team includes all traditional insurance regulatory and corporate law practices, an insurance defense organization, Public Affairs and Global Compliance & Ethics. Executive responsibilities include legal counsel and strategic advice to the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer, and the senior management team.
James Kerr is Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for Atlanta-based Southern Company, one of America’s largest energy providers. As the senior legal officer of the company, he leads the Office of the General Counsel, which includes the company’s legal, corporate governance, audit and compliance functions. He also co-chairs Southern Company’s internal business assurance council and serves in other risk management roles.
George A. Massih III has served as Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Corporation Service Company® (CSC®) since 2003. From 1997 to 2002, he was Assistant General Counsel and Vice President of Product Management for CSC. Prior to joining CSC, Massih served as Associate General Counsel for the Rollins group of public companies, including Rollins Environmental Services Inc., Matlack Systems Inc., and Rollins Truck Leasing Inc. in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1989 to 1997. From 1986 to 1989 he was an associate at Bray, Walther & Reardon in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the practice of labor and employment law.
Deborah Majoras leads Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) global legal organization of approximately 500 people who are responsible for a broad scope of legal, compliance, government relations, public policy and brand protection functions for all of P&G and its employees, globally. She also serves as the primary resource to P&G’s Board of Directors for governance, securities, and process issues. Prior to P&G, Majoras served as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission from 2004 to 2008. She also previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and as a partner in the international law firm, Jones Day.
Justin Miller is Avantor’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel. In his current role, Mr. Miller leads the Global Legal organization. In addition to his background in securities and corporate governance, he has extensive commercial experience in pharmaceuticals, electronic materials, and biotechnology. Mr. Miller earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor degree from George Mason University School of Law in the United States.
Jonathan Olefson, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Syneos Health, oversees the global legal function, including the Legal, Compliance and Corporate Quality teams and the Assistant Corporate Secretary. Mr. Olefson brings extensive expertise in data analytics, Intellectual Property and global markets, as well as a significant understanding of the consulting and healthcare industries. He previously served as the General Counsel and Secretary of Cotiviti Holdings, where he led the development of the company’s Legal, Compliance and Government Relations departments.
Lori Schechter is Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel for McKesson Corporation. She is responsible for overseeing McKesson’s general counsel organization, which consists of the law, public affairs, compliance and corporate secretarial functions for McKesson and its subsidiaries. Schechter served as Associate General Counsel of McKesson from January 2012–June 2014. Previously, she was a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster where she represented clients in complex litigation and investigations and served for four years as Chair of the 500-lawyer global litigation department.
Laura Stein serves on the Clorox executive committee, chairs the Clorox women’s employee resource group, and co-sponsors the company’s social responsibility and enterprise risk management programs, among other responsibilities. She also works closely with Clorox’s board of directors on governance matters. Previously, Stein was Senior Vice President – General Counsel of the H.J. Heinz Company, a member of the Heinz senior management committee, a director of the H.J. Heinz Company Foundation and President of the Heinz women’s group, among other responsibilities.
Alan Tse became Global General Counsel of Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc. in 2018, after serving as General Counsel of Petco, Churchill Downs, and LG Electronics Mobilecomm. In 2017, he helped establish the GC Thought Leaders Experiment, which measures the success of various in-house and law firm practices and relations. Alan is also Co-Founder and serves on the Board of Directors of the Asian American Legal Foundation. Alan also served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Corporate Counsel.
Patrice Walch-Watson of CPP Investments leads the global legal, compliance and corporate secretarial functions. She is a seasoned business lawyer and advisor with deep experience in transactions, regulation, corporate governance and providing strategic counsel. Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2015, Patrice spent over 22 years as a corporate lawyer in private practice at Torys LLP, a highly respected cross-border law firm, advising some of Canada’s largest public, private and government businesses in strategic mergers and acquisitions, financing and governance matters.