Finest General Counsel in the Nation Selected by The Burton Awards Program

New York, New York: The Burton Awards Program, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit effort, which is run in association with the Library of Congress, presented by lead sponsor Law360, co-sponsored by the American Bar Association and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, released its list of outstanding general counsel who will be named as “Legends in Law.” This year marks the Twenty-sixth Anniversary of the program which will be held on Monday, May 19, 2025, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The general counsel were judged on the following standards: “being highly respected by the bench and bar for integrity and professionalism; having a demonstrated track record of addressing complex matters of national or global significance in a specialized area; and being acknowledged as having a proven record of creativity and uniqueness in resolving challenges.”  Mr. Burton, Founder and Chair of the national awards program said “the 2025 Legends in Law are luminaries who have truly distinguished themselves in the profession of law. They have all earned the honor by being exemplary leaders in law.”

The “Legends in Law Select Committee” is comprised of Les Parrette, President of One Page Thinking, LLC and former Chief Legal Officer of Novelis; Tye G. Darland, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Georgia- Pacific LLC; Jean Lee, President and CEO of Minority Corporate Counsel Association; R. Hewitt Pate, Vice President and General Counsel of Chevron Corporation; Elaine Mandelbaum, General Counsel, Interactive Brokers; and William Burton, Founder and Chair, of The Burton Awards.

American broadcast journalist Ted Koppel will serve as Master of Ceremonies.  The program will also include a performance by 16 Grammy Award-winning composer and producer David Foster and Broadway star Katharine McPhee.

The following General Counsel will be honored as 2025 Legends in Law:

Joe Pierce
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
AMB Sports and Entertainment

Kimberly Y. Chainey
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
AptarGroup, Inc.

Christopher Green
General Counsel
Bain Capital

John Finley
Chief Legal Officer
Blackstone

Kevin McCarthy
General Counsel
BNY

Brett Gerry
Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President
The Boeing Company

Shawn Fagan
Chief Legal Officer
Citadel

Brent J. McIntosh
Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary
Citi

Willie Hernandez
Former Senior Vice President & International General Counsel
The Coca-Cola Company

Adam S. Umanoff
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Edison International

Steven Croley
Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel
Ford Motor Company

Tiffany M. Hall
General Counsel
Mastercard

Pierre M. Gentin
Chief Legal Officer
McKinsey & Company

Che Chang
General Counsel
OpenAI

Vanessa Allen Sutherland
Executive Vice President of Government Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Phillips 66

Ed Goines
Chief Legal Officer
Seattle Seahawks 

Jennifer Lagunas
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Secretary
TerSera Therapeutics

Robert S. Rivkin
Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
United Airlines

Lisa Iglesias
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Unum Group

Craig Silliman
Former Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative, Legal, and Public Policy Officer
Verizon

 

THE BURTON AWARDS

The Burton Awards, established in 1999, is funded by the Burton Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and academic effort devoted to recognizing and rewarding excellence in the legal profession. The Burton Awards were established to honor the finest accomplishments in law, including writing, reform, public service and interest, regulatory innovation, and lifetime achievements in the profession. The Honorary and Distinguished Board of Directors of The Burton Awards Program includes: William C. Burton, Partner, Sagat|Burton LLP; former Chief Judge Richard A. Posner, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; U.S. Senator Michael F. Bennet; former U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.; U.S. Senator Christopher Coons; U.S. Senator John Cornyn; U.S. Senator Mike Crapo; U.S. Senator Joni Ernst; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; U.S. Senator James E. Risch; U.S. Senator Mike Rounds; U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen Jr.; U.S. Senator Roger Wicker; U.S. Senator Todd Young; Justice Carol A. Corrigan, California Court of Appeals; Les Parrette, President, One Page Thinking; Jane Sullivan Roberts, Managing Partner, Macrae; H. Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Betty Whelchel, Former Head of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, BNP Paribas S.A. (retired); Brad Karp, Chairman, Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; Linda A. Klein, Senior Managing Shareholder, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, and former President, American Bar Association; Stephen R. Mysliwiec, Partner, Miller Friel, PLLC; Bernard Nash, State Attorneys General Practice Co-Chair, Cozen O’Connor; Brian D. Burton, Senior Attorney, Alston & Bird; Hubert L. Allen, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Abbott; Bruce Byrd, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Palo Alto Networks; Lynn Charytan, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Comcast Cable; Elaine Mandelbaum, Interactive Brokers LLC; Lucy Fato, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Seaport Entertainment Group; Duane Holloway, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, U. S. Steel Corporation; Marc Kesselman, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Purdue Pharma; Jennifer Newstead, Chief Legal Officer, Meta; Anne Robinson, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Vanguard; Maryanne R. Lavan, former Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Steve McManus, Chief Legal Officer, State Farm; Kevin O’Connor, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Lockheed Martin Corporation; and Bradford Berenson, General Counsel, TPG.

 

LAW360, LEAD SPONSOR

Law360, a LexisNexis company, is a trusted provider of breaking legal news and in-depth analysis, with up-to-the-minute, comprehensive coverage of litigation, regulation and enforcement, legislation, administrative proceedings, executive actions, corporate deals, legal industry trends, and more. With a unique blend of cutting-edge technology and journalistic expertise, Law360 delivers the intelligence legal and business professionals at top law firms, Fortune 1000 companies, key government agencies, and many other organizations need to remain experts, mitigate risk, and beat the competition.

 

THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, CO-SPONSOR

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

This prominent institution is one of the most celebrated and distinguished libraries in the world. It was established on April 24, 1800, and since that time has grown to become one of the largest repositories in history. The Library of Congress functions as both a national library and as the research arm of the U.S. Congress. It contains more than 32 million catalogued books and more than 62 million manuscripts.

 

WILLIAM C. BURTON, ESQ., CHAIRMAN

William C. Burton is a partner at Sagat|Burton LLP, New York. He is the Founder and Chairman of the Burton Awards Program. He is also the Founder and Chair of the Burton Foundation for Legal Achievement, which funds the program. He has served as a New York State Assistant Attorney General and an Assistant New York State Special Prosecutor. For fifteen years, he was the Director of Government Affairs for Continental Insurance, then one of the largest international insurance companies. He is the author of “Burton’s Legal Thesaurus,” the first and only reference book of its kind written for the legal profession. The book is now in its sixth edition. When it was published forty-one years ago, Mr. Burton was given a prestigious award by the Association of American Publishers which declared the book “One of the most Creative and Innovate Projects of the Year.”

In 1999, Mr. Burton created the Burton Foundation and established the non-profit Burton Awards Program with the initial goal of encouraging clear and comprehensive legal writing and rewarding other monumental achievements in law.

In 2010, Mr. Burton was awarded the prestigious Golden Pen Award by the Legal Writing Institute, the second largest organization of law professors in the United States with 3,000 members. The honor was given for his advocacy and impact on legal writing. Later in 2011, he was presented the “Blackstone Award” by the Friends of the Law Library of Congress for embodying and promoting the best ideals of the venerable institution.

He was a Legal Reform Award recipient from the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform in the fall of 2017. In 2022, Mr. Burton was selected as a member of the Hofstra Law School Hall of Fame. The Law School selected its top 50 graduates on celebrating its 50th Anniversary. He is also the recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Legal Writers comprised of more than 2,700 jurists, professors and practitioners. The award was previously presented to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Paul Stevens, and Stephen Breyer, and other prominent award winners. In 2024, he received the ABA Presidential Citation for his visionary leadership and contributions to the legal profession and society at large.