Law360 (September 1, 2020, 5:26 PM EDT) -- When the coronavirus pandemic struck, it brought a host of complications for Clorox general counsel Laura Stein, whose company is synonymous with bleach and disinfectants.

Her legal department had to contend with the challenge of helping the company meet a panicked world's soaring demand for its cleaning products while also chasing down price-gougers and other fraudsters. And then there was the president of the United States, who suggested during an April news conference that injecting "disinfectant" into the body might treat COVID-19 before later saying he was being sarcastic.

Asked about the company's reaction to the comments, Stein — a seasoned general counsel and former BigLaw attorney — said she and her team found Clorox product labels to be clear on the disinfectants' proper use. But still, in a world where the Tide Pod Challenge was a thing, she and her team reached out to social media partners and stepped up consumer education efforts, she said.

"For us at Clorox and in the legal team, and frankly with everybody, it's just so incredibly important to use disinfectants properly, and under absolutely no circumstances should they be ingested or injected," she said, stifling laughter, during an appearance on Law360's Pro Say podcast.

Stein, who is the first woman to hold the general counsel post at two Fortune 500 companies, is among 13 corporate counsel named Legends in Law by the Burton Awards this year.

Stein was slated to be honored in-person at the Burton Awards' June ceremony at the Library of Congress, but the event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The next ceremony is scheduled for June 14, 2021. Law360 is a sponsor of the Burton Awards.

Tom Sager of Ballard Spahr LLP nominated Stein for the award, citing her leadership during the pandemic and her great contributions over the course of her career.

"To state that she is a legal icon given her involvement in so many organizations and causes does not adequately describe her influence and impact," he said in a statement.

Stein is a polyglot who was a foreign exchange student in Italy in her youth. She has learned Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Chinese, languages she said she uses in the course of her current job, particularly Spanish. She was a journalist in China at China Daily in the early 1980s and then worked for Morrison & Foerster LLP in China for a time. She received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1987.

Stein joined H.J. Heinz Co. as general counsel in 2000, and then joined Clorox as general counsel in 2005.

She has devoted time to volunteer and pro bono causes, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, American Bar Association groups focusing on issues including rule of law and domestic violence, and other access to justice causes.

Stein said Clorox's legal team is involved with every business unit's leadership team, ensuring it can help to craft the company's strategies, operations and communications.

"[There are] serious decisions that have to be made to protect people's lives," she said. "And so there's weight on everything we do, but we realize we all have to give our best thinking to get it right."

--Editing by Kelly Duncan and Jill Coffey.

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