Calling the play
MARC S. FIRESTONE
Executive vice president and general counsel, Kraft Foods Inc.
Age 50
COMPANY PROFILE
Kraft Foods Inc. is the largest food company in the country and the second largest in the world, behind Nestlé S.A.
Kraft ranks No. 53 on the Fortune 500 with 2009 revenues
of $40.4 billion. Its acquisition of British confectioner Cadbury PLC in February boosted revenues to approximately
$48 billion.
Kraft’s portfolio includes 11 brands with revenues exceeding $1 billion, including Kraft, Oreo, Nabisco and Oscar Mayer.
The company has 140,000 employees worldwide and is
headquartered in Northfield, Ill.
LEGAL TEAM AND OUTSIDE COUNSEL
General Counsel Marc Firestone is responsible for Kraft’s
corporate and government affairs and legal and compliance functions worldwide. Firestone oversees about 450
people, including 46 lawyers in the United States and 100
abroad. A leadership team of eight reports to Firestone,
who emphasizes collaboration. “The idea is to provide the
best possible advice to management by having everybody
working together,” he said.
Kraft “is an excellent place to be an inhouse lawyer,” he
said. “We have good support from the company.” Running
a corporate legal department is different from running a
law firm, he finds. “Any [law] department’s challenge is to
stay contemporary with the opportunities and risks from a
legal perspective that the company is dealing with.” He has
emphasized staff training in economics, organization theory
and statistics. “The challenge is to think three-dimensionally
and connect the dots.”
The amount of outsourced work varies according to subject
area. Kraft has two in-house lawyers who supervise litiga-
tion. The department handles its own labor and employment
and trademarks issues. For major transactions, go-to firms
include Jenner & Block’s Chicago headquarters for litigation
and Clifford Chance; Cravath, Swaine & Moore of New York;
and Los Angeles-based Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s New York
OUTSIDE COUNSEL
COMPANY
KRAFT FOODS INC.
CORPORATE TRANSACTIONS
Jenner & Block; Clifford Chance
MERGERS &
ACQUISITIONS
Cravath, Swain & Moore;
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
SECURITIES
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
FOOD LAW
Hogan Lovells
