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Molson Coors Brewing Co. is a global brewing company with 5,200 employees, nine breweries and operations in more than 30 countries. Its American roots date to 1872, when German immigrant Adolph Coors bought a bottling plant in Colorado. The Coors family took the company public in 1975 and it merged with Canada's Molson Breweries in 2005 amid consolidation in the beverage business. Last year, the company and SABMiller PLC combined their U.S. and Puerto Rican operations to create a MillerCoors LLC subsidiary. Molson Coors' 2008 gross sales were $6.7 billion. In addition, the company draws 42% of MillerCoors' annual sales of $7.5 billion.

Chief Legal Officer Sam Walker leads a team of 25 lawyers and 30 support staff who handle legal, public affairs, corporate responsibility, corporate governance and water and natural resources matters.

Walker is most likely to seek outside counsel for experts "who care deeply about our business." Among the firms he's used are Denver firms Holme Roberts & Owen (for litigation and corporate work), Kamlet Reichert (corporate and real estate) and Burns Figa & Will (water law); Washington firm Wiley Rein (litigation); the Washington offices of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (litigation), Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (competition issues) and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (disclosure issues); Kirkland & Ellis (corporate); Richards, Layton & Finger of Wilmington, Del., (corporate governance); Canadian national firm McCarthy Tétrault (corporate); and London-based Herbert Smith (corporate).

"Diversity is a core value, so we care a lot about it," Walker said. The business is party to the Georgetown University Law Center's Pro Bono Challenge and supports the Diversity Call to Action.

Walker focuses on "what's necessary for our company to thrive and meet its goals. Some of that is scheduled, like board meetings and senior team meetings, and some isn't. So I don't really have a typical day, although the pace throughout the year is fairly predictable."

The emphasis is on communication—"lots of check-in meetings and one-on-ones," Walker said. "Employee engagement is one of our key objectives, so we really work at communication."

Asked if he's a generalist, Walker said: "My career path in this regard has been like an hourglass—I began as a generalist when I was a trial lawyer, became a labor and employment specialist and then came out the other end a generalist again as general counsel."

Walker played a pivotal role in the Molson-Coors "merger of equals." The partners maintain dual headquarters in Denver and Montréal and trade off the company chairmanship every two years.

Walker likes what he called his "fishing license to go anywhere and ask any question." He explained: "It's really important for lawyers to have the standing in the organization to move throughout it—and if they see something that doesn't seem right that they have the standing to say something, rather than sitting in a cubicle and marking up contracts."

The litigation load is fairly typical for a large seller of consumer products. "We might find ourselves in disputes with distributors, tax issues with governments — and beer company advocacy for alcohol responsibility is a critical part of what we do," he said.

Among Walker's unusual duties is holding what he calls "moot court" at earnings disclosure time. "I moot court my colleagues on the enterprise leadership team on our financial results every quarter, ahead of our earnings call," he said. "I'll pretend to be the journalists and ask penetrating questions."

Walker takes to the mountains periodically to check Coors' water supply from a glacier high in the Rocky Mountains. "We have a staff of 10 looking after our water rights in Colorado. Water is subject to a highly developed legal system, and we make sure that the water is clean and the rivers and streams are unobstructed, which is something lawyers don't usually get to do."

Asked if he still enjoys beer after his long service in the industry, he was succinct: "Sure, how can you not like beer?"

Walker reports to Chief Executive Officer Peter Swinburn.

Walker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in public policy from Duke University in 1980 and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1984. Following a clerkship with Judge John Butzner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, Walker became an associate at Charlotte, N.C.-based Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, doing trial work (1985-1989). He joined the U.S. Department of Labor (1989-1991), where he led the 3,000-employee Employment Standards Administration, scrutinizing affirmative action programs and wage-and-hour issues, among other duties.

In 1991, Walker moved to the Department of Education, where he bore substantial responsibility for implementing America 2000, President George H.W. Bush's schools initiative. He left to become a partner at what was then Wiley Rein & Fielding, where he handled complex commercial litigation. He served as an assistant clearance counsel for the George W. Bush presidential transition team.

Walker joined Molson Coors in 2002.

"Coors was a client and I was recruited," he said. "It was a neat opportunity that arose. At the law firm, I wound up becoming more a generalist, and I enjoyed being closer to the economic engine of the company—of having more a team orientation and enjoying the process of putting things together."

His advice for aspiring general counsel: "Hold the role with a loose grip. To do the job right, you need to be willing to put the job on the line every day to do what's right. There's an expression—'Speak truth to power.' An effective GC has to be willing to do that. Good companies encourage it."

A native of Madison, Wis., Walker enjoys road biking, tennis, fly fishing and skiing. He is married to Cynthia Nardini Walker, a homemaker. They have two sons: Rennie (23) and Alex (18).

A Soldier's Story, by Omar Bradley, and The Life You've Always Wanted, by John Ortberg; District 9.

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