After reaching the vice president level, Gap Inc., attorneys continue to practice law daily, so when Michelle Banks was named the multibillion-dollar corporation’s senior vice president and general counsel in December, she was ready to hand off her everyday duties to focus on the bigger picture.
“After years of in-house experience, a lot of attorneys are prepared to step up. I know I was,” says Banks. “Today, I set the legal function’s strategy and manage legal operations and finances.”
Prior to joining Gap Inc., in 1999, Banks worked in-house as legal counsel for the Golden State Warriors. “I’d never been to an NBA game in my life,” recalls Banks, who graduated from UCLA School of Law in 1988. “Fortunately, I liked the games and the work, but my time as one of the team’s two attorneys was really an anomaly in my career. More typically, I worked for larger companies, and that helped to prepare me for my transition to Gap Inc.”
For five years, Banks-whose practice focused on corporate finance and international transactions-was an associate with Morrison & Foerster. During one of her years with the progressive firm, Banks was lent to ITOCHU, a large Japanese trading company. “I was the first woman professional to work in ITOCHU’s headquarters organization; in other words, the first female in their Tokyo office who did not serve tea. It was a very big deal,” explains Banks. Thanks to her then-boss and mentor, a Japanese attorney favorably disposed toward the U.S. style of law practice, Banks’ experience at the Japanese conglomerate was positive. Moreover, it was there that Banks decided to alter her career path and go in-house long term.
Earlier in her ongoing tenure at the San Francisco-based specialty retailer, which has more than 3,100 stores and whose brands include Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy, Banks established and led the company’s well-respected corporate compliance and corporate governance programs. Today, she heads a diverse, 60-person-strong legal department. “We’re not big when benchmarked against some others in our revenue band ($10 billion-$20 billion),” says Banks, “but compared to where I’ve been, especially the Warriors, it’s very large.”
For Banks, the first in her family to graduate from a four-year college, Gap Inc., has proved the right career choice: “Gap Inc., gives innumerable opportunities to women,” says Banks. “During my pregnancy and afterward, a major work/life dilemma time for many women, the company offered a generous maternity leave and the opportunity to return to work part-time (which I did for two years).” “My husband likes to tell people that he married me for free floor seats at Warriors games, and now he gets a discount on jeans instead,” says the general counsel with a chuckle, “but I’m very happy with Gap Inc. I plan on one day retiring from here.” DB
Return to Fortune 500 Women General Counsel
From the July/August 2007 issue of Diversity & The Bar®