Font Size:

A new survey by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association shows that the number of female general counsel among the Fortune 500 has grown to 92, more than double the 44 female GCs when the association started keeping track in 1999.

The Fortune 500 list includes two lawyers from Georgia companies: Teri Plummer McClure of Atlanta-based United Parcel Service and Debra E. Kuper of AGCO, the Duluth-based global manufacturer of agricultural equipment.

The Fortune 500 female GCs are spread around the country, but the state with the most is New York, with 14. California follows, with 11. Texas has eight. Illinois and New Jersey each have seven Fortune 500 female GCs.

The first ever female GC at a Fortune 500 company was appointed in the early 1980s, according to the association.

"At a time when the U.S. financial markets are taking a beating and the economy is creating difficult times for our nation's top companies, it's encouraging to see that more women lawyers are serving as the chief legal officer to whom CEOs turn to lead the company through today's legal and regulatory challenges," said Veta Richardson, MCCA's executive director. The 2008 Survey, along with analysis, is published in the July/August issue of the organization's magazine Diversity & the Bar.

MCCA advocates for the expanded hiring, promotion and retention of minority attorneys in corporate legal departments and the law firms that serve them. The group is headquartered in Washington and has an Atlanta office.

The group highlighted three women in the survey issue: Kathleen M. Cronin, GC of CME Group, the Chicago-based derivatives exchange; Margaret M. Foran, GC of Chicago-based Sara Lee Corp.; and Joia M. Johnson, GC of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Hanesbrands Inc., which includes Hanes, Champion, Playtex, Bali, L'eggs, Just My Size, Barely There and Wonderbra.

Before joining Hanesbrands in February 2007, Johnson was GC of RARE Hospitality International Inc., an Atlanta-based restaurant franchise and owner of Longhorn Steakhouse that was purchased that year by Darden Restaurants, owner of Olive Garden.

Before RARE, Johnson was GC at Atlanta-based H.J. Russell & Co., the largest African-American-owned construction business in the country.

Johnson didn't plan to be a lawyer when she started out as an undergraduate at Duke University, according to the MCCA article. At one point, she called her parents and told them she wanted to be a professional dancer. Her father said she'd have to come home to Atlanta and study dance someplace less expensive than Duke. That turned her attention toward business and law. She went to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned an MBA and a J.D.

She started out with the Atlanta firm that is now McKenna Long & Aldridge.

Johnson has grown with her jobs. Of her current post with Hanesbrands, she told the MCCA, "The most challenging, and for me the most exciting, aspect of the position is in trying to be proactive in the worldwide environment in which we operate. When a company has an international footprint like ours, it requires a familiarity not only with foreign laws, but also with geopolitical issues. The business is more complex and the scale is larger than what I've experienced before."

The MCCA feature on Cronin highlights the male-dominated nature of the trading business. She said electronic trading has changed the dynamic of the industry somewhat, and there are some successful female traders on the floor. She said that CME Group has four women of 11 senior managers.

"Still, there are things to remember," she told MCCA. "Talk a little louder and more frequently and make sure people understand when you're the one making the decision."

Foran became GC of Sara Lee Corp. in July, after the departure of Roderick Palmore to the General Mills GC job. Her previous in-house jobs were at J.P. Morgan & Co., ITT Corp. and Pfizer.

"First I was into money, then gambling, followed by drugs and now my parents are delighted that I'm going into an industry with tasty baked goods," she told MCCA. "I've truly worked in many industries and there are a lot of parallels among the companies where I've worked. Now, I'm able to use that experience at Sara Lee."

She said she enjoys the challenge of getting to know a company, and the only way to do that is through its people -- employees, clients, customers and suppliers. "By meeting them, I'm learning what Sara Lee is all about."

Related story:

Top 10 Highest-Paid Female GCs Pass Million-Dollar Mark

Subscribe to Fulton County Daily Report