Soft Drink Lawyers and Leadership

Posted by Jeff Lipshaw

I am reminded every day by the bumper sticker on a car parked along our street (between our house and the T station in Porter Square) that my new governor is Deval Patrick (left), the former general counsel of The Coca-Cola Company.  So I was impressed when I heard the other day that one of the possible replacements for Alberto Gonzales was Larry D. Thompson (right), currently the general counsel of Pepsico, Inc.

Both, I suspect, have impressive bona fides.  And there are plenty of other companies with minority GCs (DuPont and Deere, just to name two) so that can’t be it.  (Note to self:  would I ask that question if they were both Jewish or both women?  Something to think about.)  One is a Democrat; one is a Republican, so that’s not it.  I would not have thought that the food, drink, and entertainment industries had particular need for “political” lawyers (versus, say, a defense contractor).  Is this just a funny coincidence?  Or does the road to political power go through the cola wars?