It has been a privilege to do such important work with my amazing colleagues in the legal department and to be part of Coca-Cola’s dynamic leadership team. I look forward to working with James in this new strategic role.
— Bradley Gayton, former general counsel of the Coca-Cola Company, in a statement given following his resignation after only eight months on the job. Gayton is no longer employed by the company, but will serve as a “strategic consultant” to chairman and CEO James Quincey to “drive certain key objectives.” For his new role, Gayton will receive a $4 million sign-on payment and a monthly consulting fee of $666,666, beginning this month and ending in April 2022. Back in January, Gayton introduced a new diversity initiative that would require at least 15% of the company’s outside counsel to be Black and at least another 15% to be diverse. Firms that didn’t meet these requirements could receive reduced fees or lose Coca-Cola as a client.
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.