Jeannine Lemker is a Seattle-based Director in Major, Lindsey & Africa’s In-House Counsel Recruiting team working with a broad range of global, national and regional companies, institutions of higher education and non-profits of all sizes and industries to find and unlock talent to be the next—or first—general counsel, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, compliance and ethics professionals, privacy leaders and other high-level, specialized legal professionals.
Through strategic counseling and authentic partnership with her clients, Jeannine excels at understanding how to connect a company’s strategy and culture to highly talented, diverse leaders that are proven to propel the business forward. With 20+ years building and leading large and small teams in Big Tech and Big Law, Jeannine brings a unique, lived experience as to how lawyers and legal and compliance professionals advance and protect the business, enable responsible decision-making and policy development, and partner across an organization on strategies that achieve each company’s unique mission.
Representing both coasts, she hails from Philadelphia, practiced in New York and D.C., and found her home in Seattle where she lives with her family. A world traveler, she spent time in Greater Asia, Europe and throughout North America. Outside of work, she is an active volunteer and Board member in the Bellevue, WA youth competitive swimming community and at her three sons’ schools.
Prior to joining Major, Lindsey & Africa, Jeannine was director and associate general counsel in Meta Platform’s (Facebook) global compliance organization where she led a diverse team of 18 compliance professionals who designed and landed culture and controls programs and strategies tying compliance to business success (human rights/ESG, compliance-by-design, training and communications), equipped and empowered employees to make ethical decisions (Code of Conduct and corporate policies), and helped the company manage its most significant compliance risks (ERM and third party risk management, regulatory compliance, compliance analytics programs, remediation).
Before that, Jeannine was a senior member of Microsoft’s compliance program, with day-to-day responsibility for Microsoft’s global business ethics program. She led award winning corporate compliance training, culture and data analytics programs, among others. She was also a senior member of Microsoft’s internal investigations team, including as part of the team who resolved the company’s 2019 DOJ and SEC FCPA settlement.
In her first 10 years of practice, Jeannine was a white-collar defense attorney in Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP’s Business Fraud and Complex Litigation Group, representing Fortune 500 companies building compliance programs and conducting internal investigations. She also represented corporations and individuals in federal criminal trials, SEC enforcement matters, DOJ investigations, OFAC disclosures, CFTC and multi-lateral institution actions, as well as civil litigation.
Jeannine is an adjunct professor at the University of Washington Law School and a co-director for the law school’s Global Business Law Institute. She also is a dedicated community volunteer in education and athletics organizations and fundraiser for the PKD Foundation, focused on polycystic kidney disease prevention, research, patient care and advocacy.
Georgetown University Law Center: J.D.
The George Washington University: B.A., Criminal Justice
