Carole Ann Spink is a legal scholar, law professor, and former international employment law partner with more than two decades of experience in the legal profession. She serves as an Assistant Professor of Law at Barry University’s Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law, where she teaches Contracts, Business Organizations, and Employment Law. Her professional career includes partnership roles at international law firms, where she handled the employment law aspects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Her academic background includes a Juris Doctor degree earned with High Honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law and a Master of Science degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
Spink began her higher education at the University of Central Florida, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1992. During her undergraduate years, she was inducted into Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society. In addition to her coursework, she served as an Academic Peer Advisor in the School of Communications. This role involved assisting fellow students with academic planning and guidance, and provided early exposure to educational support and mentorship.
After completing her undergraduate studies, she pursued legal education at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law. She earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1997, graduating with High Honors and ranking ninth in a class of 335 students. Her academic performance resulted in her election to the Order of the Coif and recognition as a Kent Legal Scholar. These honors reflected sustained academic discipline and strong legal reasoning throughout her law school career.
Several years later, she expanded her academic training by returning to graduate study. In 2003, she earned a Master of Science degree in International Relations from The London School of Economics and Political Science. This graduate education strengthened her understanding of global affairs and complemented her legal background in international employment matters.
Her legal career began in Chicago, where she joined a large law firm as a Summer Associate in 1996. She continued with the firm as an Associate from 1997 to 1999. During this early stage of her career, she developed core skills in legal research, drafting, and client representation within a structured private practice environment.
In 1999, she joined Baker McKenzie in Chicago as an Associate. From the outset, her practice focused on employment and labor law issues in a global context. After a brief period away from the firm, she returned in September 2006. Her professional growth and increasing responsibilities led to her promotion to Partner in January 2011. In this role, she managed complex employment matters and coordinated work across multiple jurisdictions.
As a Partner at Baker McKenzie from 2011 to 2019, Carole became a leader within the firm’s North America Global Employment and Labor Law practice. She regularly led transactions involving 50 or more jurisdictions, requiring close coordination with local counsel and careful attention to differing legal requirements. Her work focused on supporting clients through complex cross-border employment challenges while maintaining compliance across legal systems.
In addition to her client responsibilities, she contributed to the firm’s intellectual and professional initiatives. She served as the North America Editor for The Global Employer, a publication addressing developments in employment law. Through this role, she supported knowledge sharing and professional development within the firm.
Throughout her time at Baker McKenzie, she maintained a strong commitment to pro bono service and social impact initiatives. One significant effort involved the design and presentation of four international cooperative modules on pro bono work and social innovation. This work reflected her belief in the broader responsibilities of legal professionals beyond commercial practice.
Spink also served as Team Leader for a significant pro bono collaboration with Accenture, Caterpillar, and Merck as part of PILnet’s Empowerment of Women in Nepal project. This initiative involved a team of 70 lawyers from 11 countries and focused on empowering women legally and economically. The project received the 2010 Corporate Pro Bono Partner Award from the Pro Bono Institute, recognizing the scale and impact of the collaboration.
In 2019, she joined McDermott Will & McDermott (Now McDermott Will ^ Schulte) in Chicago as a Partner in the Employment practice group. In this role, she advised clients on domestic and global employment law matters. Her responsibilities expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period marked by rapidly changing workplace and legal conditions.
During this time, she served as Co-Chair of the firm’s COVID-19 Task Force and acted as the founding author of the firm’s Pandemic Resource Center. These responsibilities involved monitoring legal developments, coordinating internal responses, and providing practical guidance to clients navigating pandemic-related employment challenges.
After more than two decades in private legal practice, Carole Spink transitioned into legal academia, bringing extensive professional experience into the classroom. In August 2024, she joined Barry University’s Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in Orlando, Florida, as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law.
During the 2024–2025 academic year, she designed and taught two sections of Contracts for first-year students in the fall semester. In the spring semester, she developed and taught an additional Contracts section and a Contracts Drafting course for upper-level students. These courses emphasized foundational legal principles and practical drafting skills.
In August 2025, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Law at Barry University. In this role, she teaches Contracts, Business Organizations, and Employment Law, continuing her commitment to legal education and student learning.
Her academic background includes earlier teaching experience at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. From August 2004 to May 2006, she served as a Westerfield Fellow, teaching legal reasoning and appellate advocacy to two classes of 25–30 first-year students. This experience informed her teaching approach and reinforced her focus on legal analysis, writing, and advocacy skills.
Carole Ann Spink is admitted to practice law in Illinois, where she was admitted in 1997, and in Florida, where she was admitted in 2022. Throughout her career, she has advised clients on domestic and cross-border employment law matters, with a focus on global corporate reorganizations and outsourcing transactions. She continues to apply her professional experience to teaching and scholarly work in employment law.
