Delicious!
COMPANY PROFILE
Known for its signature frozen cheesecakes, Sara Lee
Corp. boasts one of the world’s leading and best-loved
portfolios of food, drink and household products. The
company’s more than 100 brands include namesake
Sara Lee as well as Ball Park, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean,
the Sanex skin care line and Senseo coffees and coffee
makers. Ranked No. 180 on the Fortune 500, Sara Lee
brought in revenues of about $12.9 billion last year. The
company is based in Downers Grove, Ill., a suburb of
Chicago, and employs 41,000 people worldwide.
In 2005, Sara Lee’s new chairwoman and chief
executive officer, Brenda Barnes, initiated a thorough
restructuring. Sara Lee eliminated jobs and began
actively selling off brands to focus principally on its food
and beverage business. The company is in the process
of divesting its household and body care brands—for
example, it sold its Ambi Pur brand of air fresheners to
The Procter & Gamble Co. in December. In the midst
of the overhaul, Brett Hart was promoted to general
counsel in 2009.
LEGAL TEAM
Hart oversees a team of 48 attorneys, 13 in Downers Grove and the rest spread throughout offices in 15
countries. The department’s divisions include mergers
and acquisitions, securities, intellectual property, litigation, environmental health and safety, sustainability
and corporate social responsibility, government affairs,
internal audit, employment and labor, enterprise risk
management and global compliance. One of the challenges confronting Hart’s legal team is keeping abreast
of significant regulatory changes.
“In the different areas where we do business, the
landscape is constantly changing,” he said. Especially
given the shift in presidential administration, Hart
added, “internally, from a legal perspective, we’re trying
to stay a couple steps ahead in trying to determine
what will have an effect on our business.”
OUTSIDE COUNSEL
Domestically, Sara Lee uses outside counsel extensively, handling only about 20% of its legal work in-house.
When outsourcing, Hart uses Sidley Austin, Sonnenschein
Nath & Rosenthal and Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis for
mergers & acquisitions; Jenner & Block and Schiff Hardin,
both of Chicago, and Sonnenschein for litigation; Foley
& Lardner and Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice’s Winston-Salem, N.C., office for intellectual property matters;
Chicago’s Mayer Brown for compliance; and Ogletree,
OUTSIDE COUNSEL
BRETT HART
Executive vice president, general counsel and secretary,
Sara Lee Corp.
Age 41
COMPANY
SARA LEE
COMPLIANCE
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Foley & Lardner; Womble
Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash,
Smoak & Stewart
LITIGATION
Jenner & Block; Schiff
Hardin
M&A
Sidley Austin; Sonnenschein Nath
& Rosenthal; Kirkland & Ellis
