Walmart to Move Retiring General Counsel’s Duties to Legal Chief

Walmart Inc.‘s general counsel function and staff are being folded into an operation that chief legal officer Rachel Brand oversees, the company said Wednesday.

The general counsel, Karen Roberts, is preparing to retire after more than 27 years at the retailer, she disclosed in a statement posted Tuesday to her LinkedIn profile. Roberts has spent the past decade as general counsel.

“Following Karen’s planned retirement, Karen’s direct reports will either report directly to Rachel Brand, who serves as Walmart’s chief legal officer, or Rachel’s other direct reports,” company spokesman Randy Hargrove said in an email.

Walmart has been growing its number of stores after rising inflation combined with the pandemic drove consumers to seek bargain prices. The company said last week its warehouse retailer Sam’s Club is planning 30 new US stores in the coming years.

Brand and Roberts didn’t respond to requests for comment. Roberts, in her farewell message, said she plans to take some time off to figure out her next steps, which will include family, hobbies, and travel.

Roberts joined the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant as a real estate manager in 1995, the same year she graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Walmart promoted her to general counsel in 2013 to replace Jeffrey Gearhart, another Arkansas law school graduate who went on to be the company’s head of global corporate governance before he retired in 2018.

That same year Walmart hired Brand, a former No. 3 official at the Justice Department in Washington, to succeed Gearhart as the top lawyer in its C-suite.

Brand previously was a chief litigation counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s litigation arm and counsel at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. She also clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Brand and Roberts weren’t among the six highest-paid executives at Walmart during fiscal 2022, according the company’s most recent proxy statement.

Walmart’s in-house legal group has become home to several other top women lawyers in recent years.

The company hired Jeanine Jiganti as general counsel for its health and wellness business in 2019. That same year Kerri Ruttenberg, a former top litigator at Jones Day in Washington, joined Walmart as its general counsel for litigation.

The following year Walmart welcomed aboard Deborah Vaughn as general counsel for its international business. Walmart also recruited Matthew Miner to replace Daniel Trujillo as its global chief ethics and compliance officer in 2021.