Native New Yorker Elisa D. Garcia C. says she never expected to find herself in Ann Arbor, Mich., but when the chance presented itself in 2000 to become the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Domino’s Pizza, she did not hesitate to take the after-hours telephone call.
“The headhunter said, ‘How would you like to be a general counsel?’—how could you not take that call?” asks Garcia C.
While Domino’s Pizza did not have a law department at the time, explains Garcia C., the corporation, which has over 8,000 corporate-owned and franchised stores and that employs approximately 145,000 team members worldwide, recognized the need for an attorney who could manage compliance and put the structure in place to eventually take the company public. “We clicked,” she says, “and I got the opportunity.”
Today, as the general counsel of the world’s largest pizza delivery company, she heads a law department of four lawyers and the franchise services department, and sees many different types of issues cross her desk. “With our corporate stores, I might see litigation relating to a car accident or class action wage and hour litigation.” But she also might find herself working on proxy statements, the annual report, IRS inquires, and preparing for board meetings.
While solid legal grounding in one or more practice areas is essential to get to enter into an in-house spot, in Garcia C.’s case, she found that heading a corporate department demands much more. “I came here as a seasoned lawyer with strong securities and commercial and international experience, but I have learned so much about managing people and teamwork. I see continuing opportunities to expand my experience here at Domino’s.”
There have been unexpected challenges at the top. At Domino’s Pizza, she says, “I realized that I wasn’t just expected to establish a law department, or to get a culture that wasn’t accustomed to dealing with lawyers as business partners to do so, or just to prepare the company for an eventual public offering. I was also expected to act as a full-fledged member of the Domino’s Pizza leadership team, and a strategic business partner, and that came as a surprise to me.” This new role came with the responsibility to have an opinion as to whether a new product should be introduced, or a new market explored. “This took a huge realignment of my thinking,” Garcia C. continues, “because I am a lawyer and I have always been a lawyer.”
Garcia C. stresses that success comes from resisting the tendency to sit in the law department simply doing legal work. “Get out there and learn how a pizza is made; what it means to work in a distribution center; go on a route with a driver, and understand what your fellow team members are doing every day.”
“If people see you as a value-added business partner, then they will include you more,” Garcia C. advises. She also recommends developing relationships with peers, as they are the people who will be leading the company in the future. “If you go hand-in-hand and learn the business together with your peers, you are going to stay hand-in-hand.”
Garcia C. started off her career as a developing country energy analyst, working in Latin America prior to attending law school. From 1985 to 1989, she was an associate with Willkie, Farr & Gallagher in New York, and from 1989 to 1994 Garcia C. was senior counsel for GAF Corporation, a chemical and roofing materials manufacturing company. Prior to joining Domino’s Pizza, she joined Philip Morris International in 1994 as the assistant regional counsel for Latin America because it offered her an opportunity to combine her developing country background, fluency in Spanish, and her love of working with people overseas, along with her legal skills.
When it comes to advancing toward the ideal corporate counsel job, “Go to the biggest and best firm that will take you. That might be counterintuitive to some people, but I think large firm training is like a medical residency. Be ready to work your tail off, but learn how to be meticulous, and that periods and commas are important because they can be vital in the interpretation of a document.”
“And then, after about five years, find an in-house opportunity where you can utilize your skills and learn a business,” Garcia C. recommends. “If you are looking for an in-house career, I suggest that you be ready to relocate, keep abreast of openings by checking the in-house jobline at www.acca.com, and be nice to headhunters.”
In her own case, Garcia C. says that perseverance, flexibility, and eternal optimism have been her strong suits. “It is always going to get better; something great will happen if you work hard. I think that is what has always been my drive.”
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From the July/August 2006 issue of Diversity & The Bar®