In just over two decades, Amazon.com Inc. has gone from a startup based out of founder and chief executive officer Jeff Bezos’ garage to one of the most powerful companies on Earth. If the planned purchase of Whole Foods Market Inc. and the company’s ongoing push into the world of fashion are any indication, it seems the Seattle-based giant will only continue to expand its reach.
Supporting the growth of the company and managing the legal risks faced by such a behemoth, is a massive legal department of more than 800 people, led since 2012 by David Zapolsky, Amazon’s senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. While there are challenges in keeping up with the legal needs of a company like Amazon, such as managing a legal department that’s grown to include more than 400 lawyers with offices in 15 different countries, Zapolsky said in a July 28 interview with Corporate Counsel that the in-house legal team still, more than 15 years after he joined the company, feels the same in some respects.
