Top Walmart Trial Lawyer, 47, Retires for ‘Second Shot at Life’

After four professionally satisfying yet exhausting years running the litigation group at Walmart Inc during a global pandemic, Kerri Ruttenberg called it quits in July. At 47, she retired, content to put the practice of law behind her.

The decision surprised many, even those who barely knew the former trial lawyer. A post announcing her decision on LinkedIn got 46,000 impressions, according to Ruttenberg.

“I don’t know that many people,” she said.

What Ruttenberg does know is that she planned and saved for this moment.

Her husband, Ed Gold, is a decade older and the couple want to spend their golden years together. While both have done well in their careers—Ed is an economic consultant and frequent expert witness—there is no trust fund behind them, just a nest egg enhanced by years of skipped vacations and collective frugality.

Ruttenberg drives a 2013 Hyundai Elantra. Her husband, a 1996 Pontiac Sunfire. The latter predates their relationship, which began in 2001, Ruttenberg said with a laugh. There are other factors that helped the former Big Law litigator hang it up early. Having no children and little law school debt—Ruttenberg earned scholarships for much of her schooling—bolstered the couple’s bottom line.

Kerri Ruttenberg’s white 2013 Hyundai and her husband Ed Gold’s red 1996 Pontiac.

Courtesy: Kerri Ruttenberg

“I didn’t come from money and neither did my husband,” said Ruttenberg. She acknowledged she can get defensive when people make those kinds of assumptions. “I was the first person in my family to go to college. My mom worked three jobs when I was little, my parents divorced when I was three.”

Ruttenberg, who started her 401(k) the day she started working, said she always had an appreciation for the value of money, sometimes to a fault. But she worked hard and made savvy decisions that gave her financial freedom.

She billed 2,800 to 3,000 hours per year and “work[ed] another 250+ hours on pro bono cases, and handle[d] significant administrative responsibility,” Ruttenberg said her LinkedIn post announcing announcing the retirement.

She also escaped some pitfalls.

Ruttenberg was once a junior partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf, which she left in 2010, two years before the now-defunct law firm’s collapse obliterated the finances of many former partners and staffers. Ruttenberg’s two decades in private practice culminated in a top litigation role for Jones Day in Washington, D.C., and ended when Walmart hired her in 2019.

Leaving the ‘Pit’

What ultimately led Ruttenberg to retirement was what she calls “the pit,” a sense of impending doom and semi-depression brought on by something an adversary did in litigation or a response she felt was needed to another phone call or email. Constant problems in need of being addressed, which Ruttenberg understood were a key part of a job she loved, led her to a fork in the road.

“The drive to keep climbing and exceeding expectations gets to be a lot when you’re doing it nonstop,” Ruttenberg said. “But I never felt my identity was my career, even if it helped people through problems and crises.”

The move to Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., exposed her to another way of life, said Ruttenberg, who grew up in Maryland and spent most of her career in Washington.

“What do you do?” and “Where do you work?” is the start of many social conversations in the Northeast. In the Ozarks, Ruttenberg enjoyed the ease with which she could step outside her business bubble.

She found her corner of northwest Arkansas “was not just cows” but had a thriving culinary and music scene. She and Ed made good friends in Bentonville and have no plans to leave.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Ruttenberg, who said she was recruited by Walmart’s recently retired former general counsel, Karen Roberts. Ruttenberg’s retirement after Roberts’ was purely a coincidence, she said.

While Walmart has turned to Jones Day for outside counsel, as well as other in-house legal talent, Ruttenberg said she hadn’t done any work for the company prior to coming aboard.

She oversaw all aspects of Walmart’s massive litigation docket—from battles over opioids to discrimination, false advertising, intellectual property, and wage and hour disputes—at a time when the company’s business boomed during the pandemic and touched critical areas of the US economy such as health care, logistics, and retail, Ruttenberg said.

When she would be asked what type of legal work she focused on at Walmart, Ruttenberg said she often replied, “All of it.”

She gave Walmart three months’ notice about her plan to retire—the company has yet to replace her. Ruttenberg said many folks on her team refused to believe she would leave until she finally did this summer. Others told her she would be back in two months, but Ruttenberg knew otherwise.

Life After Law

Ruttenberg’s retirement so far has her taking photography classes and guitar lessons—she started playing during the pandemic by watching YouTube videos. She’s also trying to learn Japanese and cook more. Travel is also on the itinerary.

“We’re going to spend about six months just visiting friends and family, many of whom we haven’t seen in years,” she said. In January, Ruttenberg hopes to have some longer journeys abroad. She doesn’t foresee practicing law professionally again.

Ruttenberg leaves the door open to doing some criminal defense and domestic violence pro bono work—most likely in an administrative capacity—and wants to continue doing talks she’s done before about the importance of visual presentations. She wrote a book about how trial lawyers can use images to better advocate for their clients.

“I’d love to do a TED Talk someday,” Ruttenberg said. “I’d also like to talk to law students about certain careers and opportunities in law.”

Ruttenberg said she feels like she’s “getting a second shot at life.”

“I hesitate to say that because it sounds like I hated what I did—I didn’t, I would do it all again—but I’m excited to be able to do this,” she said about her new day-to-day freedom. “I’ll tell you what, the adjustment is really fast.”