Jonathan Drucker, Whistler Partners. Courtesy photo

Jonathan Drucker, the former top lawyer for Godiva Chocolatier Inc. and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., has joined boutique legal recruiting firm Whistler Partners in New York. 

"I've spent my entire legal career in New York. I've been here for about 35 years. I've gotten to know a lot of people and I was ready to do something a little different and novel and innovative," Drucker said Wednesday in an interview. 

He arrives at Whistler as a senior consultant after having most recently served for seven years as the worldwide general counsel, senior vice president and corporate secretary at Godiva. The company has restructured its legal department, which no longer includes a worldwide GC, according to Drucker. He also led Ralph Lauren's legal department for four years.

In his new role, Drucker will be focused on both in-house and private practice recruitment. He said he will work closely with Whistler founding partner Sean Burke and Sarah Wyman, managing director of the firm's in-house team. 

"I'm not going to be pigeonholed here," Drucker said. "I'm going to have the opportunity to work on partner searches. I think I can bring a lot to the table in the corporate counsel area having worked in-house for 20 years and recognizing the differences and the key components to being a very successful in-house lawyer."

He joins the firm alongside two other new hires: Julieta Stubrin, former global director of attorney recruiting and diversity at Fenwick & West, and Dan Mummery, who served as the hiring partner for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's offices in Palo Alto, California. Stubrin heads Whistler's new office in San Francisco, where Mummery also is based.

In addition to his two decades as an in-house leader, Drucker also has experience as a law firm partner at Rubin Baum Levin Constant & Friedman, now part of Dentons, and at Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman. He has connections at New York's top law firms and, apparently, moves in some lofty circles. 

"He went to the same camp as Ralph Lauren, attended Hugh Jackman's birthday party, drank beers at a baseball game with Bill Murray and watched a couple recite their wedding vows alongside Elvis Costello. BJ Novak of 'The Office' took a selfie with him," states his bio on Whistler's website.  

Before he became an in-house leader in the chocolate and fashion worlds, Drucker was the first general counsel for private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, where he focused on media and communications-related issues, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

He began his legal career as an associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in 1985, after graduating from Stanford Law School.