Starbucks Corp.'s new acting top lawyer is a diversity advocate who worked her way up the Seattle-based coffee giant's legal department ladder and helped lead the company's response to a racial discrimination crisis several years ago. 

Zabrina Jenkins stepped up this week from her deputy general counsel role to serve as interim GC in the wake of the company's decision to remove Rachel Gonzalez from the legal chief seat on April 4. Gonzalez is staying on as an adviser until May 20.

Jenkins takes up the reins of Starbucks' legal department amid a CEO shuffle as the coffee chain tries to tamp down workers' attempts to unionize stores across the country. So far, six stores, including locations in Arizona and New York, have unionized, and dozens of other stores are poised to vote on unionizing.