Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia School of Law will welcome General Counsel for Coca-Cola North America Leslie M. Turner as this year’s Edith House Lecturer. She will present “Winning or Winning With Integrity? A Lawyer’s Role in the Corporate World” on March 21 at 3:30 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
According to Turner, corporate lawyers must go beyond just keeping businesses out of trouble and be true counselors, advising their clients on not only what they can do but what they should do.
During her presentation, Turner will explore the leadership attributes that enable lawyers to serve as counselors to their corporate business clients as well as discuss her experiences at Coca-Cola and the beverage giant’s business philosophy that “it’s not just about winning, but winning with integrity.”
Turner joined The Coca-Cola Company in January 2006 as associate general counsel in the Bottling Investments Group and was later promoted to general counsel of Coca-Cola North America. Prior to joining the company, she was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Akin Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.
She also served as assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Territorial and International Affairs, a U.S. Senate-confirmed position that she accepted in 1993. In that role, she managed the office that oversaw U.S. relations with such territories and federated states as American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Two years later, she became counselor to then-Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, and she also served as director of the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Turner earned her master’s degree in law and government from American University, her juris doctor from Georgetown University and her bachelor’s degree from New York University. She also served as a judicial clerk to former Chief Judge William C. Pryor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The Edith House Lecture Series is hosted annually by the Women Law Students Association in honor of one of the first female graduates of Georgia Law. House, a native of Winder, was co-valedictorian of the law class of 1925, the first to graduate women.
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