About

Beginning her career – slightly unusually – in an in-house role rather than with a law firm after completing her legal education, Wanji Walcott made a fantastic impression at Lockheed Martin IMS, and soon caught the attention of general counsel Robert Downing, who would prove a major mentor in Walcott’s career for many years. After a private practice role with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and a 13-year in-house tenure with American Express, Walcott joined PayPal in 2015 and was made general counsel in 2017. ‘A career-long dream of being named general counsel was fulfilled when PayPal promoted me in February 2017’, she says. ‘I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with some of the industry’s best for a cause that truly makes a difference’. At her prior role, Walcott mentions another significant career achievement that she led while at American Express: ‘The company launched a business unit focused on emergent and mobile payments. I raised my hand and made the case why I should be the lawyer supporting the unit. I got the job and worked closely with the unit’s president, Dan Schulman, now the CEO of PayPal. It was not an easy journey, but we did a lot of good things there together, so that was certainly a significant move towards becoming a business lawyer’. Looking to the future, Walcott is keen to target diversity and inclusion when building the PayPal legal team. ‘I’ve long had a deep passion for diversity and have dedicated my life to advocating for inclusion. Naturally, this carries over into my professional life and in my role where I have worked to empower my colleagues by creating opportunities to leverage the diversity of thought, background, race and gender of our teams’, she says.