Brinker International, Inc. announced Dec. 8 that Scarlett May has been named Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of the company, effective Dec. 15, 2014.

May is a restaurant industry veteran with an extensive background in the casual dining space, the company said in a news release. She most recently served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary for Ruby Tuesday, Inc., which owns or franchises 749 Ruby Tuesday brand restaurants and 27 Lime Fresh brand restaurants.

Brinker International, Inc. is one of the world’s leading casual dining restaurant companies. Founded in 1975 and based in Dallas, as of Sept. 24, 2014, Brinker owned, operated or franchised 1,622 restaurants under the names Chili’s Grill & Bar (1,574 restaurants) and Maggiano’s Little Italy (48 restaurants).

SanDisk Corp.. a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, has announced that it has appointed Mark Brazeal as senior vice president and chief legal officer. Brazeal is responsible for SanDisk’s intellectual property portfolio and licensing as well as all other legal areas, including commercial agreements, M&A transactions, litigation, corporate securities law and governance.

Brazeal spent the past 14 years at Broadcom where he most recently served as senior vice president and senior deputy general counsel with responsibilities including a wide variety of IP matters and litigation for the company.

Prior to Broadcom, Brazeal focused on IP licensing and litigation at law firms Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, CA, Yuasa and Hara in Tokyo, Japan, and Howrey & Simon in Washington, D.C.

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Corporate law departments will have a big hand in changing the legal market over the next 10 years, law firm leaders said in Altman Weil’s sixth annual Law Firms in Transition Survey, which was released recently.

Large majorities of law firm leaders responding to the survey agree that greater price competition, practice efficiency, commoditization of legal work, competition from nontraditional service providers, and non-hourly billing are all permanent changes in the legal landscape. For the most part, these are changes that have been imposed upon them from without – from more demanding clients and more competitive newcomers who are challenging the rules of legal service delivery.

When asked about the most likely change agent in the legal market over the next ten years, 34% of law firm leaders identified corporate law departments as the force most likely to lead change; 32% chose technology innovation; and, 15% selected non-law-firm providers of legal services. Only 10%of respondents believe that law firms will take the lead in reinventing the legal market.

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American Apparel Inc. has named Chelsea A. Grayson its new executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of the company. The appointment will be effective Dec. 15, 2014.

Grayson was in private practice as a corporate attorney for more than 15 years with Jones Day and Loeb & Loeb LLP, where she was a partner in the corporate groups of both firms, according to fibre 2 fashion. Her experience includes private placements of equity and debt securities for public and private companies, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions for clients in a variety of industries, including retail.

Chelsea Grayson will replace Tobias S. Keller, who has been interim general counsel since June 2014.

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A Texas appeals court has rejected an argument that the association’s general counsel had an attorney-client relationship with a member embroiled in a lawsuit.

The decision, involving the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, addresses some important questions about the relationship between an association general counsel and the organization’s members, Associations Now reported.

“The case arose when a member of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association was sued after the proposed sale of the Nissan dealership went sour last year,” Associations Now said. “During discovery in the lawsuit, the lawyer for Baytown Nissan had a phone discussion about the conflict with TADA General Counsel Brenda Karen Phillips. The plaintiff in the case—the spurned potential buyer—sought to depose both lawyers about the substance of their conversation.”

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Arizona has filed suit against General Motors, claiming that the automaker defrauded the state’s consumers of an estimated $3 billion, The New York Times reports.

The suit is the first major legal action against GM over its record number of recalls this year, most notable among them one for a defective ignition switch in 2.6 million small cars that was delayed for a decade. The suit suggests that “multiple in-house attorneys” were aware of the problem, including Michael P. Milliken, the company’s general counsel for the past five years.

The Times said the complaint was harsh and unsparing in its criticism of GM, suggesting that the automaker intentionally misled consumers through its advertising, website and public statements, and that some of its top leaders were complicit in the alleged misdeeds.

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Gerald Stubenhofer, GNC Holdings Inc. senior vice president, chief legal officer and company secretary, has “separated from his employment,” according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, reports the Pittsburgh Business Times.

GNC, based in Pittsburgh, markets health products, fitness and vitamins retailer.

Stubenhofer is to receive the compensation and benefits to which he’s entitled under the employment agreement in the case of termination by GNC the form said, except that he is subject to certain noncompetitive covenants for six months, instead of the typical 12.

“Departures since June at GNC include CFO Michael Nuzzo; Chairman, President and CEO Joseph Fortunato and Chief Merchandising Officer/General Manager Thomas Dowd. Veteran retail executive Michael Archbold was hired as CEO in August,” the Business Times reports. “Nuzzo joined Pittsburgh robotics firm 4moms.”

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Lowe’s Companies Inc. has announced that Ross W. (Bill) McCanless will return to the company as its new general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer, effective Jan. 12, 2015. McCanless is replacing Gaither M. Keener, who announced plans to retire from the company following 30 years of service, Market Watch reports.

McCanless was Lowe’s general counsel from 2003 to 2006. He recently served as chief legal officer, general counsel and secretary for Extended Stay America Inc. and ESH Hospitality Inc.

At Lowe’s, McCanless will be responsible for directing all legal matters for the companys and its subsidiaries, as well as advising the chairman and board of directors on corporate governance matters.

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When a company buys another business, frequently the acquiring party sees some “overlapping general and administrative functions” in the company that was acquired. This can result in layoffs for some in-house lawyers and other executives and staff people, reports Crain’s Chicago Business.

From the magazine’s report: Professionals’ fates depend on a mix of factors, including their spot on the org chart and the acquirer’s goals, says John Nimesheim, managing director at Slayton Search Partners in Chicago. For example, a private-equity firm that buys a company is more likely to leave the management team intact than a company that acquires for strategic purposes.

“Sometimes it’s, ‘We’re the acquirer, and our team is going to win, and your team is going to go away,’ “ he says. “Sometimes, depending on the structure of the deal, they really want to be friendly.”

The Crain’s report examined several mergers and acquisitions to discern patterns.

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Wingstop Restaurants Inc. has appointed Jay Young to be the company’s next general counsel.

Young will serve on the company’s executive leadership team, reporting directly to President and CEO Charlie Morrison.

In a release, the company said Young joins Wingstop during a year of record-setting growth.

“We are delighted to welcome Jay, a great addition to the Wingstop team,” said Charlie Morrison, Wingstop President and CEO. “Jay is a highly-experienced executive whose business and legal acumen will be invaluable to us as we continue to aggressively grow our proven concept. We look forward to his contributions.”

Young brings more than 18 years of legal expertise to Wingstop, including an extensive background in the restaurant and financial services industries. Before joining Wingstop, Young served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for CEC Entertainment (Chuck E. Cheese), a nationally recognized leader in family dining and entertainment.

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Hispanic Executive magazine has profiled Eduardo Vidal, general counsel of IRR Strategies, who moved to the United States as a nine-year-old boy from Cuba.

The profile tells how his family moved to Chicago where he later went to the University of Chicago. After five years in Chicago, he moved to New York where he spent 22 years working in the burgeoning corporate finance space of cross-border transactions with companies in Latin America.

Eventually, when that kind of work started to dry up, he sought opportunity in Texas, where he landed with a new business process outsourcing (BPO) company, (which includes call centers, technical support, and back-office paperwork) as general counsel. The company, IRR Strategies, LLC, provides global solutions for BPO services to small and medium-sized enterprises, private equity, and venture capital.

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The U.S. Department reported that Gregory E. Grantham, 57, of Oceanside, California, was sentenced to five years in prison on Nov. 14 , followed by three years of supervised release, for a wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz also ordered Grantham to forfeit/ pay restitution of $17.4 million.

DOJ reports:

Grantham is a licensed attorney and between September 2009 and September 2011, was employed as General Counsel for IAGU Underwriters, LLC, as well as maintaining a private law practice. Graham’s co-defendant, Mervyn Phelan operated IAGU, which was in the business of underwriting loan applications submitted by real estate developers and then locating project financing from banks and other financial entities.

According to his plea agreement and court documents, between mid-2010 and August 2011, Grantham and Phelan became involved in a fraudulent scheme carried out by Patrick Belzner and Brian McCloskey, who both resided in Baltimore County. McCloskey owned a real estate development business known as the McCloskey Group, LLC. Belzner, a home builder, began working with McCloskey in late 2008 or early 2009. Phelan and IAGU began working with the McCloskey Group trying to locate sources of financing for its projects in about 2009.

Beginning in 2009 and continuing through June 2011, Belzner and McCloskey persuaded a series of private lenders to fund loans to establish that the McCloskey Group had reserves of cash that would supposedly help it obtain loans it was seeking in connection with real estate development projects through IAGU. Belzner and McCloskey falsely represented that the funds would be maintained in an escrow account under the control of Kevin Sniffen, a licensed attorney and escrow agent in Baltimore County; that the funds would not be used for any other purpose; and that the money would be returned to the lender, either upon the funding of the loan or after a specified period of time. In return for this temporary use of the lender’s funds, Belzner and McCloskey promised to pay substantial fees or interest. In fact, once the lenders transferred their funds into the escrow accounts, Belzner directed McCloskey to remove those funds from the escrow accounts without the knowledge or permission of the lenders. Belzner and McCloskey then used the majority of the stolen funds to pay for their personal and business expenses. The total losses resulting from the scheme were approximately $20 million.

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An administrative law hearing that could determine whether more than 3,000 workers at the nation’s biggest peach farm are unionized got heated when a lawyer for Gerawan Farming accused the chief prosecutor in the case of playing “hide and seek” with evidence and witnesses

As reported by CNBC, California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) General Counsel Sylvia Torres-Guillen, who is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the case, has alleged that Gerawan Farming carried out unfair labor practices, engaged in bad-faith bargaining, and tainted workers.

“This case from the beginning has been hide and seek by the general counsel,” said Ronald Barsamian, an attorney for Gerawan. “We’re still waiting for the UFW to put on its case—let alone the ALRB. If it’s not hide and seek, it’s just not preparing adequately for this case.”

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Executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. will lead the search to find a new general counsel to succeed General Motors Co.’s Michael P. Millikin, who will retire early next year, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Leading the effort for Heidrick & Struggles are Victoria Reese, global head of the firm’s legal, risk, compliance and government affairs practice, and Lee Hanson, a Heidrick vice chairman and former investment banker, reports The Journal, citing sources who asked not to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public.

Millikin, who has been with GM since 1977 and has served as general counsel for five years, has announced his retirement.

“The 66-year-old has been one of Chief Executive Mary Barra’s closest allies as she took on the CEO position earlier this year and has dealt with the continuing ignition-switch debacle,” according to The Journal‘s report.

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The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a securities class action against pharmaceutical giant Omnicare, asking to what extent, if any, a corporation needs a “reasonable basis” for opinions in its SEC registration statement, reports Courthouse News Service.

Omnicare, the largest provider of pharmaceutical services for residents of long-term care facilities in the United States and Canada, raised $750 million in a public stock offering in 2005, after filing a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But litigation around the offering accused Omnicare of taking kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies to promote certain drugs, and submitting false claims to Medicare and Medicaid.

Omnicare attorney Kannon Shanmugam, with Williams & Connolly, told the court that the company can be held liable for a false statement in its registration statement only if the person who signed the statement did not actually hold the stated belief – regardless of whether it was reasonable, Courthouse News reports.

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Loyalty and good communication should be at the top of the list for outside counsel in dealing with their corporate clients, said two panelists in a recent symposium, reports Bloomberg BNA.

David Hecker and Arthur Simon were panelists at the  Oct. 17 discussion “Lawyers’ Professional Responsibilities and Liabilities from Clients’ Perspective,”held  during the 2014 Aon Law Firm Symposium in Chicago.

Hecker is general counsel of the infrastructure group for Peter Kiewit Sons’ Inc. in Omaha, Neb., a construction, mining and engineering company. Simon is general counsel for William Blair & Co., a global investment banking and asset management firm headquartered in Chicago.

They talked in detail about the protection of confidential information and the appearance of conflicts of interest.

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The National Basketball Association players association has hired Gary Kohlman as its new general counsel, according to a report in The New York Times.

Kohlman was lead trial lawyer at the Washington firm Bredhoff & Kaiser, where he represented the Service Employees International Union and the United Steelworkers.

In February, he argued in front of the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Northwestern’s scholarship football players, who sought the right to form a union, The Times reported. The N.L.R.B.’s regional director ruled in favor of the players. Kohlman also worked with the Major League Baseball players union after the 1994 strike.

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Compliance and legal challenges are converging, offering opportunity for general counsel to play a more strategic role across the enterprise, reports a new white paper from Mitratech.

The report is titled “At the Intersection of Legal and Compliance: The Opportunity for General Counsel to Meet Increasingly Complex Compliance Requirements and Lower Business Risk.”

As compliance demands expand in both quantity and financial impact, compliance and regulatory issues are at the forefront as a top priority for general counsel, although the role that they play in this function is still evolving, Mitratech says.

“There is a clear opportunity for General Counsel to embrace their role as a change agent within the enterprise and to take a leadership position at the intersection of legal and compliance challenges,” said Martin Goulet, Mitratech’s Senior Product Manager for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) solutions.

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