New York 2025
Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Labor Relations Officer | NYC Health + Hospitals
Chief Legal Officer | New York Jets
Andy Lee is in his second season as the chief legal officer of the New York Jets, after having previously served as the Club’s general counsel from 2005 to 2010,...
General Counsel | Condé Nast
Antonious Porch is the general counsel of Condé Nast. In his role as general counsel, Porch oversees all legal, business affairs, policy and compliance matters, while also serving as corporate...
General Counsel and Secretary | The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
Bridget Smith is the General Counsel & Secretary for The New York Public Library Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Prior to her role s General Counsel, she was Senior Counsel...
Vice President, Legal Affairs & General Counsel, North America | Hugo Boss
Jennifer Steindler Darling is currently the Vice President, Legal Affairs & General Counsel, North America for Hugo Boss Americas. In this capacity, she oversees legal, government relations, regulatory and compliance...
Chief Legal Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary | Cognizant
General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Administration Officer | Unisys
Chief People Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | Edgewell Personal Care
General counsel - New York Region | Suffolk Construction Company
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary | Loews
Marc A. Alpert is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Loews Corporation. He joined Loews in 2016 after 30 years at the international law firm Chadbourne &...
General counsel and chief compliance officer | Bluevine
Sharon has over 19 years of experience practicing law and working with private and public companies. Serving as Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel for the past 10 years at...
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer | Verizon
Global Head of Legal | Citi
Adam Meshel is Citi’s head of legal and serves as the general counsel and corporate secretary of Citibank and sits on Citibank’s executive management committee. Prior to his current role,...
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Administrative Officer | Fiserv
Global General counsel | dentsu
Alison Zoellner is the group general counsel for Dentsu Group. Dentsu is an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world’s leading organisations. Founded in 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, and...
General counsel, S&P Global Enterprise Data Organisation | S&P Global
Chief Legal Officer and Partner | Trian Fund Management
As Trian’s Chief Legal Officer, I oversee our firm’s legal, regulatory and compliance matters. Trian is an investment firm that manages capital for a global base of investors that includes...
General Counsel | Candid
Carla R. de Passos is a legal executive with over two decades of experience. In the last eight years as a general counsel, Carla has built a reputation as a...
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Compliance Officer, Corporate Secretary | Avantor
Claudius Sokenu is Avantor’s Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary. He serves on Avantor’s executive leadership team and is responsible for the company’s legal,...
Deputy Commissioner, Baseball Administration and Chief legal officer | Major League Baseball
Executive vice president and Chief legal officer | The New York Times Company
Diane Brayton is the executive vice president and chief legal officer of The New York Times. In her role, she leads a legal team responsible for providing counsel on matters...
General Counsel | The New Yorker
Fabio is the General Counsel of The New Yorker, where he has served since 2014. In this role, he oversees all legal matters related to the magazine’s acclaimed journalism, including...
Senior executive vice president and general counsel | Bank of New York Mellon
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | Charter Communications
Executive Vice President, Business Affairs & Chief Legal Officer | BSE Global
Jeff Gewirtz is the Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Chief Legal Officer of BSE (BSE), a role he also held from 2010 through 2020. In 2021 he served as...
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | International Flavors and Fragrances
Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel | New York Racing Association
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer | Verisk
General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Talent | ICSC
Lesley Horton Campbell is the general counsel and senior vice president of Talent at ICSC, a trade association serving the retail real estate industry. She has nearly 20 years of...
Executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Steve Madden
Lisa Keith is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Steven Madden, Ltd., where she oversees all legal matters for Steve Madden and its portfolio of brands,...
Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary | Omnicom Group
Executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Seaport Entertainment Group
Lucy Fato is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Seaport Entertainment Group Inc., a NYSE-listed company recently spun off from Howard Hughes Holdings, Inc. In this role, she oversees...
Chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary | Spencer Stuart
Lucy Lopez is the chief legal officer and corporate secretary of Spencer Stuart, a global leadership advisory firm. She also leads the firm’s risk and sustainability functions and is an...
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary | PVH
Mark Fischer is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at PVH. Based at the company’s New York City headquarters, Mark oversees all legal matters for PVH. Mark joined...
Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Business & Legal Affairs | Warner Music Group
Senior Vice President and General Counsel | New York Life Insurance
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Head of Government Relations | MetLife
Partner and Chief Administrative, Legal & Compliance Officer | Palladium Equity Partners
Executive vice president and general counsel | Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
Senior Partner and Chief Legal Officer | McKinsey & Company
Vice President & Chief Counsel, International Commercial Division | Pfizer
Ramzi is currently vice president and chief counsel, International Commercial Division, based in New York. In his role, Ramzi leads the legal team that supports the International Commercial Division and...
Executive vice president, general counsel | The Estée Lauder Companies
Executive Vice President: General Counsel, Chief Tax Officer, Deputy CFO & Chief Veteran Office | Paramount
Chief Administrative Officer and senior counsel | Endeavour & TKO
Seth Krauss is the Chief Administrative Officer & Senior Counsel to the Board of Directors and Senior Management of Endeavor Group Holdings and has served in that position since January...
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary | Mellon Foundation
Executive Vice President, chief legal officer | S&P Global
VP, Chief legal officer and corporate secretary (Americas) | Toshiba
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | PBF Energy
Trecia M. Canty is an accomplished C-suite executive with 25+ years of demonstrated expertise in finance, strategic transactions, corporate governance, compliance, enterprise risk and ESG. She has extensive energy industry...
EVP, Deputy General Counsel & Assistant Corporate Secretary | TelevisaUnivision
Veronica Rodriguez serves as the Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Assistant Corporate Secretary & Global Head of Corporate & Enterprise Functions at TelevisaUnivision. She is a core member...
General counsel & Chief Administrative Officer | PWC US
The Legal 500 is delighted to unveil the New York Powerlist 2025, a celebration of the exceptional legal talent shaping one of the world’s most dynamic cities. While this marks the inaugural edition focused exclusively on New York’s legal community, it is far from the first time we have spotlighted the city’s most accomplished legal leaders.
Historically, our focus was on the comprehensive Legal 500 US Edition. However, our strategy has since evolved, shifting toward a more localised approach that celebrates legal excellence in key cities across the United States.
This edition shines a light on 108 influential legal professionals across a diverse array of sectors, including hospitality, real estate, energy, finance, and the non-profit space. Meticulously researched over several months, the list honors those at the forefront of legal decision-making in the Big Apple.
Amidst an evolving regulatory landscape and increasing global demands, these Powerlisters share a common mission: to position their organisations for sustained growth and resilience. In conversations with many general counsel featured, a recurring theme is the vigilant observation of AI’s rapid influence on their roles, operations, and strategic outlook. Additionally, several honorees are driving major M&A activities and pioneering efforts in talent development, prioritising innovation, integrity, and dedication.
With this launch, Legal 500 expands its U.S. Powerlist portfolio — joining previous editions spotlighting talent in Atlanta, Texas, Puerto Rico, and Illinois — and adds to our global presence across 150 jurisdictions since 2015.
We extend our warmest congratulations to all those featured in the New York Powerlist 2025 and look forward to continuing this important research annually.
Legal 500 was proud to host the second edition of the GC Powerlist: East Africa 2025 in Nairobi, honouring the top General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, Legal Directors, and senior in-house legal professionals across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. This year’s reception brought together over 100 of the most influential and innovative corporate counsel from the region, and was an unrivalled success, cementing Legal 500’s role as the leading voice in recognising in-house legal excellence across Africa.
The evening was opened by Joe Boswell, lead editor of the GC Powerlist publication at Legal 500, who highlighted the growing prestige of the East Africa edition and the increasing challenge of selecting honourees from such a deep (and rapidly growing) pool of talent.
Guests were then treated to some particularly relevant insights from distinguished speakers. Rachel Musoke, Head of ENS Uganda, delivered a thoughtful welcome that reflected on the importance of collaboration between private practice and in-house teams. This was followed by a powerful keynote from Habil Waswani, Company Secretary & Director Legal Services and Regulatory Compliance at Kenya Airways, who shared reflections on leadership, regulatory stewardship, and the evolving role of corporate counsel in East Africa.
The highlight of the evening was the certificate ceremony, where this year’s honourees were formally recognised. Certificates were presented by senior representatives of ENS, including Désiré Kamanzi (Head of Rwanda), Rachel Musoke, Nigel Shaw (Head of Kenya), Donald Nyakairu (Executive, Uganda), Dieudonne Nzafashwanayo (Executive, Rwanda), Rahema Nakirya Ssemyalo (Executive, Uganda) and Binti Shah (Executive, Kenya) whose participation underlined the depth of the firm’s support for the GC Powerlist initiative.
The GC Powerlist: East Africa 2025 reaffirmed The Legal 500’s commitment to shining a spotlight on the region’s most talented in-house lawyers. With an even stronger field of candidates, this year’s edition stands as a powerful testament to the influence and expertise of East Africa’s legal leaders. Habil Waswani’s excellent speech, which got a raucous reception from those in the room, is reproduced below with his permission:
‘My name is Habil Waswani, and I have been an inhouse legal practitioner for the past 21 years in different sectors (having done law-firm practice for 2 years before that). Tt is indeed a true privilege and honour for me to be here tonight, surrounded by the sharpest legal minds and calmest crisis-handlers the East African corporate world has to offer.
First, let me thank the Legal 500 and ENSAfrica teams, for organising such a fantastic event and for bringing us together in such style. Congratulations to each of tonight’s honourees. You represent the very best of general counsel in this very dynamic corporate space the businesses we support operate in. Strategic, ethical, resilient, and, let’s be honest, often underappreciated leaders of industry.
I am so happy that this evening is not about contracts, or compliance checklists, or board packs. Tonight is about celebrating you, the people behind all of that. The steady hands guiding companies through complexities, uncertainties, and ensuring that the opportunities that lie within those difficult circumstances are lawfully realized.
We all know the role of GCs has evolved. We are no longer tucked away at the end of a corridor marked “Legal” or labelled the proverbial “cost centres”. These days, the GCs sit at the big table – helping drive corporate strategy, shaping desired culture, providing leadership and safeguarding business reputations. We have become indispensable partners to businesses, interpreters, navigators, protectors… and on some (many) days, therapists with law degrees. And yet, we mostly do it all so quietly. No victory laps, no press releases. Often, success for us means the expected disaster didn’t happen.
But tonight, we break that rule. Tonight, we raise a glass to the GCs who’ve blazed the trail courageously, with clarity, conviction, and tremendous resilience that only matches the expectations of the Leadership Guru John Maxwell when he said, “resilient leaders don’t wait for the storm to past — they learn to dance in the rain”. You have managed to balance growth and governance, risk and reward regularly. And, of course, always managed to deal with those 10pm messages: “Hey, just a quick question…Are you able to talk right now…?”
Let this evening serve as a reminder that you are not just experienced legal advisors. You are leaders — spear heads and enablers of execution — and without a doubt critical pillars of business strategy.
To all the honourees, congratulations once again for the well-deserved recognition. This is for the heavy lifting that you do, the standards you uphold, and the impact you make – quietly, consistently, and brilliantly so. You’ve earned this spotlight.
