Lee Reichert of Molson Coors Brewing Co. Courtesy photo.

Molson Coors Brewing Co. will soon have a new leader of its legal department, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, as longtime in-house lawyer Sam Walker is retiring. Molson Coors attorney Lee Reichert is slated to step into Walker's role, the Feb. 2 filing says.

Reichert, who will become Molson Coors' chief legal and corporate affairs officer and secretary when Walker leaves at the end of this month, joined the brewing company in 2011 as general counsel of Molson Coors International, according to the announcement of legal department changes.

Reichert currently serves as the company's deputy chief legal officer, helping guide international business growth and mergers and acquisitions. The incoming CLO, who will maintain his current responsibilities as corporate secretary, could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Lee is an outstanding choice to lead our Legal and Corporate Affairs function,” Molson Coors Chief Executive Officer Mark Hunter said in the announcement. “He has a great track record, and is driven and focused on winning the right way.”

One recent win Reichert helped facilitate was the $12 billion acquisition of MillerCoors. The October 2016 deal, which was in the works for more than a year, made Molson Coors the third-largest brewer in the world. The opportunity for Molson Coors came when Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV expressed interest in taking over SABMiller. Because of antitrust concerns, ABI had to sell its stake in MillerCoors, which opened the door for Molson Coors.

But it also meant operating under some pressure with respect to the timing, Reichert said in a interview with Modern Counsel. “The deal took a long time to get across the finish line, but inking up the deal in the first instance—from the day we first sat down with ABI to actually reaching agreement in concept and then signing a definitive written agreement—was really only three to four weeks,” Reichert said in the interview. “That's quite fast.”

Another challenge was in not knowing the value of the Miller brands internationally during negotiations, Molson Coors' Walker, who was also heavily involved in the deal, told Corporate Counsel in a 2016 interview. ABI didn't need to do extensive research because it knew it wouldn't keep MillerCoors, Walker said, and because of takeover rules in London, Molson Coors was not permitted to do due diligence. As a result, the parties had to work out an agreement to allow for a purchase price adjustment.

Shortly after the deal closed, Walker said one of his top priorities was to “create a single [legal] team where there have been multiple teams.”

Walker joined Molson Coors in 2002. In that time, his roles have included chief people officer and corporate secretary, and he has held the chief legal officer title since 2005. The decision to leave the Denver-based brewer follows his appointment as executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which is subject to confirmation by the Colorado Senate.

“Sam Walker leaves an enduring impact on our business,” Hunter said in the announcement. “When our company's history is written, his name will be central to the change and journey that we delivered across 2005-2018.”