Paul Puckett helped open the firm’s Atlanta office amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, paving the way for his later move in-house to Coca-Cola. Today, he brings a client-first mentality to his role as senior legal counsel for M&A and strategic transactions at The Coca-Cola Company.

Paul was interviewed by his former colleague Sam Snider, an M&A partner at McDermott in Atlanta.

How did your tenure at McDermott shape your career?

I was part of the team that opened McDermott’s Atlanta office right in the middle of COVID. We were starting a new office in a new city for the firm, and I had also just stepped into the partner ranks. In addition to switching firms, I had to quickly adjust to a new role and figure out what that meant. It forced me to get out of my comfort zone very quickly.

It was evident from the first moment I walked through the door that McDermott is about encouraging growth. There’s a lot of support to build your career by becoming a go-to advisor that clients trust. When I came to Coca-Cola, I benefited from having that time at McDermott where I was encouraged to step up and match the firm’s energy and expectations. McDermott provided a platform for me, and for others who were ambitious, to accelerate our careers and advance more quickly than we might have at other firms.

How do you approach your current role?

When I came to Coca-Cola, I felt like it was a unique opportunity to bring a partner level of experience in-house, so one of my goals was to use that to provide a level of service to my internal clients here that they might expect from a partner at an outside firm.

“Client-first” in a law firm looks a bit different than it does in-house. At a firm, it’s about great legal advice and making the client’s life easier. In-house, it’s more about working with decision-makers to get to the right decision by balancing risk and other factors. In the Coca-Cola legal department, our goal is to not be just lawyers, but to be business partners who happen to be lawyers. It’s rewarding to earn a seat at that table.

How has the McDermott network helped you?

I’m fortunate to continue to work with McDermott in my role at Coca-Cola. You don’t always know, as a client, how your firm’s lawyers operate behind the scenes, and you wonder if you’re just getting the client-facing version. But having seen behind the curtain, I know the quality of the people, the quality of the work that they do, and the focus they have on client service. It instills a level of trust in the work that’s being done.

What advice do you have for summer associates?

It’s easy to look at being a summer associate as an opportunity to do some cool things and have exposure to great lawyers. But I would challenge the summer associates to get involved in as much real work as they can. The best way to learn is by observing how people go about their work and how they interact with clients. It’s a learning opportunity, not just an experience.

What does “Always Better” look like for you?

It’s focusing on growth, figuring out how you can take the next step in your career and how you can improve your skill set. As a lawyer, it’s about making yourself indispensable to your clients. To do that, you continue to evolve by learning new skills and anticipating how you can provide value to your clients.