Mercer Law alumna Carol Terry recently took on the role as Chicken Salad Chick’s first general counsel at the end of November, making her the first legal person to join the restaurant chain’s team.
Terry, who earned her law degree in 1993, joined the company as a member of the executive team. Specifically, she is a legal generalist, which means she deals with topics ranging from employee matters to trademarks as well as other subjects related to advising a business.
Chicken Salad Chick, a fast-casual chicken salad restaurant, has about 230 locations across 19 U.S. states.
“When I was at Mercer, I was very drawn to the commercial- and code-based classes,” Terry said. “I’ve always wanted to take on more of a commercial practice, and I think learning the code classes and the tax classes from the professors there really gave me the tools to be able to hit the ground running once I got out of law school.”
One professor who impacted her was the late Professor Reynold Kosek, who taught Terry’s first contract law class. One of the main takeaways from his class was to always “know the reason for the rule, so you can understand the application for the rule,” Terry recalled.
She used this knowledge and her other relevant law experience with her clients.
“I was in a litigation practice for roughly eight years before going in house with General Electric,” she said.
As an attorney for General Electric, Terry gained business collaboration skills by working as an individual contributor who negotiated large multi-million dollar contracts at an international level. She went on to become a manager of an international team of attorneys and was later promoted to the general counsel of a $2 billion business division within General Electric.
Terry said Mercer Law has created a useful network of professionals for alumni. Many other Mercer Law alumni are based in Atlanta like Terry, which she said has enabled her the opportunity to succeed.
