Lithium Giant Albemarle Parts Ways With Legal Chief Coleman

Albemarle Corp., a specialty chemicals manufacturer and top producer of lithium, a key component in electric vehicle batteries, announced Monday a new operating structure that includes the immediate promotion of Stacy Grant to be its general counsel, chief compliance officer, and corporate secretary.

Grant, a former associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, King & Spalding, and North Carolina’s Moore & Van Allen, will succeed Albemarle’s general counsel Kristin Coleman after coming aboard last year as a vice president and deputy general counsel for global corporate affairs, Albemarle said in a statement. She previously worked in-house at Honeywell International Inc.

The global company noted in a separate securities filing that Coleman will cease serving as its general counsel and corporate secretary as of Nov. 4, with her departure meeting the “definition of a qualifying termination” under Albemarle’s severance program for named executive officers. Coleman will be “eligible to receive certain benefits and payments following her separation,” Albemarle said.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle said that its operating structure will transition from two core global business units—energy storage and specialties—to an integrated model “designed to increase agility, deliver significant cost savings and maintain long-term competitiveness.”

Bribery Settlement

The change in legal leadership comes almost a year after the company agreed to a $218 million settlement with the US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Albemarle, which was advised by King & Spalding and Miller & Chevalier on that matter, self-disclosed the violations.

Coleman said in an email that her exit has nothing to do with any ethics matter involving Albemarle. The company hired her in November 2022—less than a year before finalizing its FCPA accord—to succeed retired former legal chief Karen Narwold, who spent more than a decade in the role.

Albemarle and Grant didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Coleman has previously served as the top lawyer for US Foods Holding Corp., Sears Holding Corp., and Brunswick Corp. She began her legal career in private practice, working at Sidley Austin and predecessors to Cozen O’Connor and Locke Lord in Chicago and Perkins Coie in Portland, Oregon.

Albemarle’s most recent proxy statement shows that Coleman received nearly $2.6 million in total compensation last year after earning more than $3 million in fiscal 2022. Coleman is also owed nearly $2.4 million in compensation from a “qualifying termination event” at Albemarle, according to the filing.

Clean Energy Grant

The company was awarded at least $67 million last month by the Biden administration as part of a US government initiative to boost domestic production of lithium-ion batteries and other components that are used to power electric vehicles and for storing renewable energy.

Albemarle is no stranger to legal battles, having engaged in a years-long feud with chemical industry rival Huntsman Corp. that stemmed from Albemarle’s 2015 acquisition of lithium producer Rockwood Holdings Inc. Huntsman accused Rockwood of fraud and breach of contract related to the latter’s 2013 sale of several chemicals businesses to Huntsman.

Huntsman announced in November 2021 that it secured $665 million from Albemarle following an arbitration proceeding that reportedly netted Huntsman’s lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis a roughly $200 million contingency fee. Huntsman subsequently disclosed in a proxy filing that its legal chief, former Kirkland partner David Stryker, received a $1 million special bonus for “his leadership in the arbitration against Albemarle.”

Jacob Wilson, another former deputy general counsel and vice president for global legal affairs who most recently was a business development and strategy executive at Albemarle, left the company earlier this year to take the top legal job at Charlotte-based battery recycling business Cirba Solutions.

Andrew McBride, another lawyer who had been Albemarle’s first full-time compliance chief, also left the company this year to start his own consultancy.