Legal team size: 10

Career Biography

Rachel Barnett is the Chief Legal Officer of IEX Group, Inc., which is best-known for operating IEX Exchange, the U.S. stock exchange designed to set new standards for investor protection and performance. As Chief Legal Officer, Barnett manages a wide range of legal matters for IEX, including, among other things, corporate transactions, regulatory compliance, financial market data, intellectual property and general litigation.

Previously, Barnett was the General Counsel and Secretary of Brooks Brothers Group, Inc., the country’s oldest clothing retailer. Barnett ran the legal department at Brooks Brothers and was responsible for all aspects of the company’s domestic and international legal affairs. Prior to joining Brooks Brothers, Barnett was a member of the Board of Directors and General Counsel of Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO), a global Internet media company and trusted publisher of travel, entertainment and local deals.

Before going in-house, Barnett was a member of the litigation department at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, where she specialised in representing corporations and their officers and directors in a variety of complex corporate and commercial litigation matters, including merger and acquisition litigation, shareholder derivative lawsuits and securities fraud class actions at both the trial court and appellate levels.

In the spring, Barnett co-taught a course at Columbia Law School along with the prior General Counsel of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc. The course was entitled “Exploring the Role of the General Counsel” and taught students how to combine practical business sense with legal knowledge to achieve commercial objectives. Barnett authored the book, “A Short & Happy Guide to Business Contracts,” which is published by West Academic, and contains a simple roadmap on how practitioners negotiate terms and avoid common pitfalls in everyday business contracts.

She earned her juris doctor degree from Columbia Law School, where she was a Kent Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University. Barnett clerked for the Honorable Vice Chancellor Stephen P. Lamb of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?

The team has made great strides over the past year as we have been focusing on executing IEX’s growth plans, which have included advocating for market structure reform to modernise trading for the benefit of investors and planning for the launch of our first options exchange that will be designed with IEX’s innovative technologies.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?

The role of the in-house lawyer is evolving quickly, and legal teams are cultivating greater business acumen and can be seen as drivers of long-term value, not just risk mitigators. In addition to the increasing role of the in-house team as value enablers, there is also a trend of rapid adoption of new technologies, such as generative AI, which, in time, will substantially improve efficiencies and assist with the legal drafting process.

What are the key things you prioritise to get the most out of your team?

We prioritise building a culture of proactive partnership that is forward-thinking, plans with strategic playbooks, and that aligns with business objectives to clearly and simply lay out various options. Providing optionality is key so leadership can consider multiple strategic paths, not just a single course.