© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
The American Airlines corporate leadership team of the future was announced Monday and long-time General Counsel Gary Kennedy isn’t on the list.
AA CEO-in-waiting Doug Parker announced that his current executive vice president for corporate and government affairs at US Airways Group, Steve Johnson, will oversee legal and regulatory affairs for the merged airline.
While Johnson is a lawyer and once practiced “aircraft finance” law at a Seattle-based law firm, most of his experience during the past two decades has been on the business – not the legal – side of operations.
At US Airways, the job of general counsel essentially belongs to Paul Jones, who is vice president over the corporate legal department. Jones, who reports to Johnson, is a former senior counsel at Federal Express. There was no word Monday on whether Jones will be joining the new AA or whether a member of the current AA legal team will be promoted.
The current corporate legal department at AA employs about 20 in-house lawyers. The company also engages more than a dozen outside law firms, including Haynes and Boone, Kelly Hart, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Yetter Coleman to handle various litigation, regulatory and transactional matters.
Kennedy, who has been widely praised by other general counsels and lawyers for his handling of AMR’s bankruptcy and the subsequent merger negotiations with US Airways, joined AA in 1984 as a staff attorney. In 2003, he was named senior vice president and general counsel.
In 2005, Kennedy became one of the first corporate general counsels in the nation to institute a formal pro bono effort that required all of his in-house lawyers to commit to public service work. As a result, Kennedy and his department have received numerous awards.
Johnson joined US Airways in 2009 after spending six years as a partner at Indigo Partners, a private equity firm specializing in acquisitions and strategic investments in the airline, air finance and aerospace industries. Johnson played a key role in the development of Tiger Airways, Spirit Airlines and Wizz Air.
Between 1995 and 2003, Johnson held a variety of positions with America West Holdings Corporation prior to its merger with US Airways Group, including executive vice president over corporate.
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