Lauren Mutti didn’t want to be a lawyer growing up and had no idea what lawyers did, but she has turned out to be a damn good one.
As lead labor and employment counsel at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Mutti manages an employment litigation docket of over $9 million nationwide. She reduced outside counsel spend by more than $1 million. She decreased employment litigation by 25 percent through pre-litigation counseling. She led a multi-department team that implemented a new digital and e-commerce platform for sales. She created, updated and implemented sales compliance policies, employee handbooks, drug and alcohol policy and document retention policies.
In addition, Mutti manages investigations, immigration matters and employee benefits while overseeing the team that handles 27 collective bargaining agreements.
In 2018, she developed a strategy that led to 45 claims against Southern Glazer being dismissed or successfully resolved.
“In addition to being a rock star at the office, Lauren does this all – including many speaking engagements – having birthed a baby only a year ago so that she and her wife now have three children,” says North Texas Tollway Authority General Counsel Dena Stroh.
Stroh nominated Mutti for the 2018 Outstanding Corporate Counsel’s Senior Counsel of the Year Award. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce that Mutti is a finalist for the honor. The winner will be announced Jan. 24 at an award’s ceremony at the George W, Bush Institute.
Mutti was born in Kansas City. Her father was a “corporate gypsy” who worked for several companies, many of them in the restaurant industry. They moved to Texas when she was in middle school. As a teenager, she worked for several years serving food.
“You learn so much about people and how to deal with people when you wait tables,” she says. “It was an extraordinary learning experience for me.”
Mutti graduated from Yale University in 2003 with a degree in political science.
“I didn’t really want to join the real world right away, so I thought continuing my education by going to law school seemed like a good idea,” she says. “Keep in mind, I had no idea what lawyers did.”
Mutti graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with honors in 2006 and interned one summer for U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn of the Northern District of Texas.
“Judge Lynn had a lot of employment cases pending in her court and a lot of it resonated with things I had seen in the restaurant industry,” she says. “I’m an extrovert anyway and I like to argue, so I thought that litigation would be a good fit.”
Mutti went to work in the litigation section at Jackson Walker in 2006 and was elected to the partnership in 2014.
In January 2016, Dallas-based Glazers announced it was merging with Miami-based Southern Wine & Spirits, which created a new $18 billion company that sells 150 million cases of wine and liquor in 45 states, Canada and the Caribbean and has annual revenues of about $11 billion.
Mutti joined Southern Glazer’s legal team that June.
“I had been intrigued by the idea of being closer to the business, and I like the idea of helping solve problems before they surface,” she says. “I wasn’t looking to go in-house, but it was the best decision of my career.”
Mutti now manages a team of nine attorneys and paralegals and advises senior management on a wide range of labor and employment and compliance matters. Her group provides day-to-day advice regarding matters relating to employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour issues, whistleblower claims, trade secret protection and other employee relations matters.
In addition, Mutti is executive sponsor of Southern Glazer’s diversity council, which oversees an array of business resource groups and is dedicated to promoting diversity at Southern Glazer’s and ensuring that employees of all backgrounds are included in all aspects of the company’s business.
Stroh was president-elect of the Dallas Young Lawyers organization in 2009 when she met Mutti and asked her to get involved.
“Little did I know that this introduction would mean not only a superb committee co-chair, but also someone that I would come to know and respect for her legal acumen as well as her commitment to the Dallas community and the LGBTQ community at-large,” Stroh says.
Stroh points out that Mutti is involved in several diversity and community initiatives, including The Family Place, The Resource Center, Lambda Legal, National Leadership Council and the Community Advisory Board for the Junior League of Dallas.
“Because we operate in 45 states and Canada and the Caribbean, my biggest challenge is staying on top of regulations,” Mutti says. “To be successful in this position, I also must stay on top of developments involving my business so that my advice is as thoughtful and informed as possible.”