Few hires straight from law school, and fewer still rise to the top (McDonalds)

Few law departments these days hire new lawyers directly out of law school (See my post of Nov. 8, 2005 on the rarity of hiring from law school.). Even where that happens, those lawyers typically leave the company at some point.

Hence, it was astonishing to learn from the Nat’l L.J., Vol. 29, May 28, 2007 at 7, that the General Counsel of McDonald’s, Gloria Santona, joined her law department right after graduation from the University of Michigan Law School in 1977 and has stayed with the fast-food company’s law department ever since. In 2001 Santona was appointed General Counsel for the 140-attorney law department.