To showcase different perspectives and give an inside look into Grubhub, we’re spotlighting leaders across the organization. For this edition, we caught up with Katie Armistead, Vice President of Legal & Deputy General Counsel.

The legal department serves as a critical business partner, helping enable the success of Grubhub’s strategy at every level of the organization. 

You have some tenure here at Grubhub. What was your trajectory like after law school?

Backing up a bit, I went to law school out East and made my way to the Midwest after graduating. My first job out of school was at Jones Day, a large international law firm. I spent three and a half years there before I moved in-house and joined Grubhub. My seven year anniversary was last week! And it’s funny, I’ve been here seven years and I feel like I’m at a new company every six months since there’s always a new initiative that’s important to Grubhub or a new legal risk which makes this job so fun yet challenging. My team is always having to stay up to date on business initiatives and what’s happening in the industry which keeps us constantly learning and evolving as legal professionals.

There’s a common misconception that legal teams can be a blocker to great ideas. How do you fight off that perception?

We consider ourselves real business partners and are here to support whatever the business needs. That’s been true since day one when we were a small but mighty team to today where we are a much larger function. Generally speaking, the legal team at companies can often get a bad reputation and is viewed as the “no” team more often than not. That’s not our goal or the team we want to be. I make sure that my team is part of every conversation from day one so that we can identify risks early on while learning about the opportunities an effort presents. 

It’s easy to call out what can go wrong, but identifying what can go right and help the business and our partners grow is equally important and something we place a lot of emphasis on. To do that, my team spends a lot of time building relationships with folks across the business to understand their priorities so we can best advise them and be viewed as a trusted partner.

The best analogy someone on my team said was that we are the pit team during a NASCAR race. When you’re watching NASCAR, you see the cars go around the track and then stop so that the pit team can come in and fix the car so it’s ready to race. That’s the legal team. We consider ourselves the pit team — we went to be helpers.  

Talk to me about work-life balance. As a lawyer and mom of two (almost three), how do you prioritize personal time and work and promote that within your team?

As a mom of a four-year-old and a two-year-old with another on the way, I have a lot going on in my life. Here’s my take: we all have other things that make us who we are outside of work, and when the team comes to work, we ask them to bring their full selves. We aren’t robots, so there’s no need to show up to work on Monday and immediately dive into contract negotiations. I want to hear about your weekend and the things you’ve been up to. Or, if you’ve been going through some challenges, I want you to know I’m here to support you. 

I’m a believer that a full personal life makes you a better lawyer, and I tell our lawyers that sometimes the best ideas I’ve had about our legal challenges have happened when I’m on a run or out to brunch with my girlfriends. 

What advice do you have for people who are pursuing a career in the legal field?

I hear a lot from more junior female attorneys and women in law school who want to know how they can get to where I’m at now. And I tell them all the same thing — work really hard and try to have some fun. The legal profession can be a lot of fun, but it has a bad reputation for being too hardworking or having too many naysayers which I mentioned earlier. You also need to work somewhere that aligns with your values.

One of the reasons I love Grubhub is because the people here are just so fabulous. Our leadership — specifically our chief legal officer, is an incredible leader and really champions junior lawyers. Loving the team you’re on makes coming to work every day fun and easy, and I would encourage people getting into the law profession to seek out law firms and companies that match their values and interests. You have to love what you do considering how much time you spend doing it.

You’re known within your team for having a lot of catchphrases. What are some of them?

Oh boy, there are a lot. Two of my favorites are “How many tacos did this cost us?” and “Lean into the chaos.”