Lorena C. Yarborough
Senior Counsel, Litigation
Columbus, OH · (614) 555 0113 · name@example.com · linkedin.com/in/lorenacyarborough
Key Qualifications
EXPERIENCE
Sixteen years of civil litigation practice, ten in a corporate legal department
PRACTICE AREAS
Consumer class actions, commercial disputes, premises claims, advertising challenges
SPECIALTIES
Litigation strategy, outside counsel management, legal hold governance, settlement authority
SYSTEMS
Relativity, iManage, Westlaw, LegalTracker, Tableau
CREDENTIALS
Admitted in Ohio and Indiana; Association of Corporate Counsel litigation network
EDUCATION
Juris Doctor, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Executive Summary
Senior litigation counsel with sixteen years of practice, ten of them in house, now owning the disputes portfolio for a national specialty retailer with four hundred stores. Sets litigation strategy, supervises three attorneys and two paralegals, directs outside counsel across eleven states and briefs the general counsel and the audit committee on exposure.
Signature Achievements
- Cut annual outside counsel spend from nine million dollars to six point two million by consolidating the panel from twenty two firms to seven.
- Resolved a consumer class action for one point four million dollars against an initial demand above twelve million.
- Reduced the open case count from one hundred and forty to eighty six over three years through early evaluation and disciplined settlement authority.
- Built the legal hold and preservation program now used company wide, closing the gaps a court had criticized in a prior matter.
- Supervised three attorneys through promotion, two of whom now run their own practice areas in the department.
- Presented a quarterly disputes report to the audit committee that replaced ad hoc updates with a single exposure view.
Professional Experience
Senior Counsel, Litigation
Buckeye Provisions Retail Group, Columbus, OH 2019 to present
Leads the disputes function for a four hundred store specialty retailer with sixteen thousand employees.
- Sets strategy on every filed matter and holds settlement authority up to five hundred thousand dollars.
- Supervises three attorneys and two paralegals, reviewing work product and setting development goals for each.
- Selects and directs outside counsel in eleven states, approving budgets and holding firms to agreed staffing.
- Advises the merchandising and marketing teams on advertising claims and Federal Trade Commission expectations.
- Owns legal hold issuance, custodian interviews and preservation reporting for the whole company.
Counsel
Riverbend Consumer Brands, Cincinnati, OH 2014 to 2019
Handled litigation and regulatory matters for a household products company with revenue near one billion dollars.
- Managed thirty five active matters, including product claims and supplier disputes.
- Coordinated responses to state attorney general inquiries about labeling.
- Drafted the escalation policy that told business leaders when to bring a dispute to the legal department.
Associate Attorney
Hollingsworth Pratt Trial Lawyers, Columbus, OH 2010 to 2014
Commercial litigation group representing manufacturers and retailers in state and federal court.
- Handled discovery, motion practice and trial preparation on complex commercial cases.
- Took depositions and argued discovery motions from the third year onward.
Licensure and Certification
Admitted to the Supreme Court of Ohio, 2010
Admitted to the State Bar of Indiana, 2016
Member, Association of Corporate Counsel
Education
Juris Doctor, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Columbus
Bachelor of Arts in economics, Miami University
Core Skills
Litigation strategy · Outside counsel management · Legal budgeting · Attorney supervision · Settlement negotiation · Legal hold governance · Class action defense · Executive reporting · Advertising review · Risk assessment