I had the pleasure of visiting with Innovative Thinker Wilma Wallace, currently General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Vice President for retailer and outdoor recreation services company REI, based in Kent, Washington. As General Counsel, Wilma leads the teams responsible for all legal and compliance matters, and as Corporate Secretary, she is responsible for Board governance. Wilma also oversees REI’s enterprise information security division, responsible for cybersecurity, privacy and data security risk.
Prior to joining REI, Wilma served as Interim General Counsel at Enveritas, a San Francisco Bay Area startup whose mission is to improve the lives of smallholder coffee communities in Africa and Latin America through the development of sustainable practices and technology enabled solutions.
Before that, Wilma spent 22 years at Gap Inc., joining the clothing retailer in 1994 as one of the first five members of its legal department during a period of significant growth. As Deputy General Counsel, she developed expertise as a generalist and was able to tap into multiple facets of the company, including HR, marketing, supply chain, and operations. She also oversaw Government Affairs and Public Policy. In that respect, Wilma gained exposure to what it meant to be a consumer of legal services. Prior to transitioning from Gap, she migrated over to the corporate social responsibility function and led the Gap’s human rights effort. Wilma attributes much of her professional success to her experience at the Gap and being exposed to limitless possibilities and many aspects of the in-house experience.
Wilma, who started her career as commercial litigator in a law firm, has consistently strived to not only strengthen the General Counsel role in corporate America, but to broaden its scope to encompass business, CSR, sustainability, and human rights functions.
MZ: What’s it like going from a clothing retailer to an outdoor equipment retailer?
WW: Coming from a public company such as the Gap, then going to a very lean and mean strapping startup, and now moving into a co-op model in service to members at REI has been a wonderful cultural shift. At REI you get a sense of customers experiencing aspirational, deeply visceral warmth – the fun they have walking into a store with the possibility of getting equipment. It’s pretty heartwarming.
MZ: You’ve been at REI now a little over a year. What are the top priorities in which you’re focusing?
WW: My initial focus was spending time absorbing the culture here at REI, how work gets done, how decisions get made, and what the company’s needs and priorities were. In the first 90 days I spent a lot of time forging relationships with the Executive Leadership team, which I meet with regularly. We also stepped back to assess the legal department, our competencies, the external environment, and developing a 3-5 year strategic plan. In particular, we’re focusing on how we can map our delivery of services in the legal department to the business needs, given it’s such a disruptive time in the retail and e-commerce sector. I’ve also engaged in some of the local legal community here in Seattle so that I can cultivate a network as I navigate my role as General Counsel.
MZ: How do you measure success in your department?
WW: We’re still in the process of setting measurement criteria, but one key measure of success will be the company’s perception and use of the legal function. One challenge we’re addressing is how to elevate the profile for the legal department in the company and have a seat at the table when decisions are being made, and be included in the planning phase. It’s about having legal in a proactive mode, rather than reactive. How can legal add more value to REI? I thought about this a lot at Gap, and know that many of my peer colleagues have the same challenge. A key barometer of success will be our line of sight into critical business functions of the company.
MZ: How is the legal industry changing?
WW: Lawyers are leaning more into the enterprise risk assessment process or taking on more compliance obligations. I’ve seen a shift in legal functions move from technical legal support to a more full-bodied function to mitigate that risk more comprehensively – looking at the total risk profile. I also see legal supporting business to address significant disruptions, whether it’s regulatory or policy or actions among competitors. In retail, online and mobile are huge disruptors.
MZ: How is technology transforming the practice of law?
WW: I don’t know that technology is really transforming the law so much as lawyers should be equipped with the right leadership and soft skills first. Technology as a key component of legal department hygiene for critical operational functions is how tech is transforming law, whether it’s e-billing, document management, or data and analytics. That moment when we realized in-house that technology could help us on the operational front is when tech started to transform the law.
MZ: What, if anything, is preventing you or your colleagues from implementing more legal tech and innovation? And how do you overcome this?
WW: Having exposure to the tools that are out there and an understanding of the ROI is key along with a keen understanding of change management. The key is designating someone on the team who is on point to manage that aspect of evaluation, selection, and change management.
The other value-add with technology is access to data to assess the capabilities of the legal department, whether it’s trends in professional services fees going down or volume of litigation. Being able to provide those insights to the legal leadership team is critical.
MZ: What is the biggest challenge facing the legal industry?
WW: What is incredibly top of mind for me is cybersecurity risk. This issue is a growing concern for the legal industry at large. And determining how legal can best support organizations that are being required to evolve in ways that continue to be relevant. Prioritizing change – recognizing how critical evolution is in any organization – will remain a challenge for any legal department to adapt.
MZ: What advice would you give law firms looking to grow their business?
WW: Continue to appreciate the role as a full-service strategic advisor to your in-house providers, even if it is in one subject matter area. Think comprehensively and proactively about how you can support the legal department.
MZ: If you could change one thing about the practice of law, what would it be?
WW: As stewards of the company – which is how I view our role in the legal department – a key change would be to incorporate and recognize the value of stepping back. Re-think how legal services are delivered in the context of a larger organization to empower that organization to be a sustainable endeavor for the next 50 to 100 years. Look at risk and opportunity from that lens and set that as an expectation of service. This is not to say in-house lawyers can spend 80% of their time on this, but build some of this into the day to assess how the organization that your department supports can thrive in the future.
MZ: How do you leverage your Corporate Social Responsibility background in your role as General Counsel?
WW: It serves as a lens through which I view the world and provides guidance for the company to make decisions. It was important to me to join a company like REI that is so mission driven.
MZ: Are you using alternative service providers, and if so, what sort?
WW: We use a typical mix of law firms, small contract attorney firms, local, national, and international firms, and technology service providers for document management and our board portal.
MZ: As automation moves attorneys up the value chain, what other career opportunities do you see for attorneys of the future?
WW: Everything up to CEO! There are shared responsibilities between legal and the executives in a company to leverage the leadership skills that many attorneys have. That said, however, it remains incumbent on the lawyers themselves to promote their talents and move into other roles.
MZ: Some companies and firms are implementing diversity and inclusion programs with teeth. How do you think this will change the industry?
WW: Hopefully, to make the industry more diverse. Accountability is a huge measure of success. Yet the diversity challenge remains in full force. For you and I and those of us who are champions of diversity in the legal industry, change has been way too slow and often times we’re stepping back. We need sustained commitment and accountability in this industry for greater diversity and inclusion. We need more creative tactics to influence people who are decision-makers in this industry. Implicit bias is so heavily ingrained in people’s psyches that it is very hard to unstick. Historically, the hammer that the legal industry has used doesn’t really address the problem or solve the underlying issue. We’ll see incremental progress only until we start to see more of a cultural shift.
MZ: In recent years we’ve seen the role of the “non-lawyer” gaining ground, including non-lawyers owning firms outside of the U.S. and the Big 4 getting involved in law. How will this change the profession?
WW: This is definitely inciting law firms to think more creatively to address and deliver solutions that today’s legal departments need. Law firms are now realizing that there is less traditional legal work that they can provide.
MZ: And now for some fun questions: If you were stuck on a desert island, what are the three things you’d want to have with you?
WW: My family, running gear, and a good book.
MZ: If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
WW: Ambassador to the U.N.
MZ: What or who inspires you the most in your career?
WW: My parents.
MZ: Favorite movie of all time?
WW: “To Kill A Mockingbird.” It’s probably time for me to update to a more modern title but I keep coming back to this one. It’s a classic.
MZ: What book are you reading now?
WW: “The Four: The hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.” A fascinating book on the rise of these corporate giants. And I’m also reading “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
MZ: Where do you wish you could travel to?
WW: South Africa.
MZ: If you could take one “moonshot” for the legal industry for the next 3-5 years, what would it be?
WW: To see that the legal community supports one another, collaborates and advances women and other diverse attorneys. To see that lawyers and our industry as a whole honor their call as stewards of justice and do what is right. One of the reasons I wanted to be a lawyer is because I was so inspired by the role that the law can play to empower people, further justice and to give people a voice whom would otherwise not have been heard. I am incredibly proud to be a member of the legal community and I want to see it as whole evolve in advancing human rights and justice for all.
Monica Zent is an experienced entrepreneur, investor, businesswoman and trusted legal advisor to leading global brands, over a period that spans decades. Her most recent venture is founder and CEO of Foxwordy Inc., the digital collaboration platform for individual lawyers and legal professionals. She is also founder of ZentLaw, one of the nation’s top alternative law firms. Zent is an investor in real estate and start-ups. She dedicates much of her time and talent to various charitable causes. She is a diversity and inclusion advocate, inspiring all people to pursue their dreams. When she’s not running companies, Zent runs distance as an endurance athlete. @monicazent
