© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
Finalist: Non-GC of the Year for a Large Corporate Legal Dept.
By Mark Curriden
(Jan. 18) – American Airlines should have nominated Michael “Misha” Sukenik for lawyer of the year. He doesn’t work for American, but he is an American Executive Platinum level flier and is approaching Concierge Level status.
Sukenik is the chief legal officer for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes 40 countries. And as global legal director for the two marquee operations of their parent company, Yum! Brands, he handles compliance, transactional and technical matters in 120 nations.
Most recently, he’s been flying back and forth to Thailand and Europe repeatedly as the company expands its franchise operations internationally.
“The great part of this job is that I get to do a little bit of everything,” says Sukenik. “We are doing a lot of M&A. I’ve had to become a deal lawyer, but it is so exciting to negotiate deals with the business-side folks.”
Dean Foods Counsel Greg Odegaard nominated Sukenik for the 2017 Outstanding Corporate Counsel’s Non-GC of the Year Award. The pair worked together at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Dallas.
“Misha’s practice is multi-faceted,” Odegaard wrote in his nomination. “[Sukenik advises ] on a wide variety of sensitive business issues, including M&A, marketing and advertising, licensing, compliance and governance, data privacy and security, master franchising and brand protection.”
Sukenik is a finalist for the award. He and other finalists will be honored by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook at the official Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards event on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Bush Institute.
“Misha is a sharp attorney who has become adept at operating across diverse markets such as Brazil, the UK, Romania and Thailand, and handling complex subject matters ranging from M&A to cross-border franchise agreements to technology deals,” says Marc Kesselman, who is the general counsel and corporate secretary at Yum! Brands.
Born in Moscow, Sukenik moved to the U.S. in 1989 with his family. His father was a cardiologist. His mother had family in Brooklyn.
“We were Jewish refugees fleeing persecution and seeking economic opportunity,” he says.
In high school, Sukenik discovered his enjoyment of debate, which made him start thinking for the first time about being a lawyer.
In 2008, he received his doctor of jurisprudence from the University of Chicago Law School and then clerked for Judge Marjorie Rendell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Sukenik joined the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 2011, where he practiced in the litigation section with several lawyers, including then-appellate partner James Ho, who is now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In 2013, he joined the legal department at Yum! Brands.
Sukenik says he spends a lot of time working on franchise development for KFC and Pizza Hut around the world.
“These can be lengthy negotiations because we want to make sure that the new proposed franchise owners are truly committed to development and growth,” he says. “They will own the stores, but we still own the brand.
“We want to make sure that the operators will be properly trained and that certain brand standards and quality assurances are met.”
Sukenik also has been a key player for Yum! on what he describes as the company’s “digital ecommerce journey.”
“Consumers want a fast and easy experience,” he says. “But there’s a lot of legal issues that go with it, including protecting data privacy. When you see what is happening in cybersecurity breaches, it is critical that we work closely with our clients to protect our consumers and our brands.
“Like it or not, lawyers are central to the business conversation of data privacy,” Sukenik added. “We are a thriving, growing company and are now in 135 countries and with that comes risks.”
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