Copart appoints head of legal

Nasdaq-listed Copart has hired Paul Kirkpatrick as chief legal officer (CLO), effective December 5.

In his new role with the online vehicle auction company, Kirkpatrick advises the company in areas of corporate law, transactions, commercial contracts, real estate, compliance, litigation and government affairs. He was most recently CLO of BayoTech Hydrogen and was previously CLO at Omnitracs, including through its acquisition by Solera Global Holdings.

Before that, Kirkpatrick spent a decade at Commercial Metals Company in a variety of roles, most recently vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. According to his LinkedIn profile, before moving in-house he spent almost a decade with law firm Haynes and Boone.

Kirkpatrick succeeds Gregory DePasquale, who is retiring as CLO and corporate secretary after nearly 25 years with Copart. He was promoted to that position in 2016 having previously been deputy general counsel and assistant general counsel. Before joining the company he was an associate with law firm Cornell & Van Der Walde, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Jeff Liaw, Copart co-CEO, says in a statement: ‘Greg has been an instrumental contributor to Copart’s growth and prosperity for a substantial portion of our history – during his tenure, our market capitalization has grown more than 100-fold.

‘From our transformation to a purely online auction to expanding our auction and real estate footprint across the globe and our entry into new business lines and markets, Greg has been a trusted strategic counselor and invaluable colleague. We wish him all the best in his well-earned retirement.’