About

When iconic brand Converse set out to “claim back” its market in each key jurisdiction (having previously used a royalty model outside of the US), its legal department needed to evolve in line with the business. So it ‘tapped a strong, nimble, and insightful legal and business leader whose drive and expertise could be ideally matched to the ever-shifting competitive landscape’. That’s according to Robert Reynolds and Kevin Woolf at Seyfarth Shaw; the firm has been collaborating with the company to develop a global database that will see routine legal work handled in “robot land”. Using a formulaic approach to obtain essential information about a matter, the program generates advice on the next course of action. The little-used system first came to Miller’s attention via Nike’s IP department, and she recognized its potential to be utilized on a much greater scale across the entire business globally. The attorneys at Seyfarth Shaw comment: ‘The use of self-service templates and tools creates consistency and efficiency, but also allows the team to better devote focus and resources to high-risk, high-opportunity issues’. Miller says ‘I felt I was becoming a process agreement person, but this new system, while it does require investment in the short-term, eventually will pay for itself as it frees me up in the long-term, meaning less need for outside counsel’. Miller epitomises the modern idea of a ‘business-led GC’. As she points out, ‘legal is one of the few functions that sees the entire landscape, as we are involved in every step along the way. The most effective GCs are those that go beyond the legal box we are put in’. She likes outside counsel to do the same, and feels attorneys at firms ‘sometimes fail by approaching their role too narrowly’. She is also credited for her leadership skills, and makes her influence felt across the company by sitting as a member of its senior leadership table. In doing this she ‘guides key business strategies, challenges the status quo, and routinely encourages her colleagues to elevate their game and develop creative, collaborative solutions that infuse legal strategy into key business decisions’, according to Seyfarth Shaw. Although she has been a Nike employee since 2007, Miller only became GC of Converse in June 2012. When faced with the opportunity she says she was ‘attracted to the challenge’ and admits ‘it was quite scary to step into that role but I love it’.