Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Track. I'm ALM In-House Desk reporter Stephanie Forshee, filling in this week for my colleague Jennifer Williams-Alvarez.

Walmart engaged in some strategic shoplifting this week—from the U.S. Department of Justice, no less. The retail behemoth snagged an important lawyer from the public sector. Plus, Uber apparently isn't kidding when it says it intends to be more forthcoming under new leadership. My colleague Caroline Spiezio told me about her conversation with Uber CLO Tony West after a settlement was announced in the eventful, but brief, Uber v. Waymo trial.

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What's happening –

REBRANDING. Rachel Brand, No. 3 at the DOJ, is leaving her post for Walmart, where she'll be stepping in as the head of global corporate governance. An attorney who knows Brand told my colleague C. Ryan Barber at the National Law Journal that “she didn't seek this out, they sought her out.”

A Good Move. For Brand, the jump “represents an opportunity to make an exciting career pivot, leaving a decades-long career in Washington,” Sarah Breen, national director of in-house search with Special Counsel's Parker + Lynch, told me in an email.

Walmart's recruiters deserve a pat on the back, too. Brand's connections and experience at the DOJ will no doubt be helpful as the retailer recovers from recent regulatory probes. The company announced in November it has set aside $283 million for an anticipated Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlement. Breen added, “As Walmart navigates the challenges brick-and-mortar retailers are facing [and] they adapt to today's market, Brand's antitrust and corporate law experience will be key in helping guide Walmart through a pivot of its own.”

SURPRISE SETTLEMENT. Speaking of DOJ lawyers who have moved in-house, Tony West, newly minted chief legal officer at Uber is making it crystal clear he wants to help turn the company around.

➤ That apparently starts with transparency. Just hours after Uber's surprise settlement with Waymo was announced Friday, my colleague Caroline Spiezio in San Francisco spoke to West to find out why Uber had a change of heart in pursuing the litigation.

➤ Caroline told me West “seemed really hopeful about the future of Uber, especially with Dara [Khosrowshahi] leading.” She said he “stressed that the legal department and the rest of the company are going to push for more transparency and integrity going forward.”

➤ So has Uber turned over a new leaf? As Caroline put it, “at least Friday, I think that meant less secrecy toward the press.” Well, that's a start.

So how'd they settle? The strategy was extremely simple and one that West has used before, he told Caroline. “It was important that I was able to get to know Kevin Vosen, general counsel of Waymo,” West said. “I have a lot of respect for him and I think he's a very good lawyer, and someone I hope to have a relationship with in the future.”

Although West wouldn't confirm details, Business Insider reported that Uber's legal team was able to trim the settlement amount from Google's $500 million offer to $250 million in equity and a promise not to use Waymo trade secrets.

SHOWING UP. The D.C. Court of Appeals suspended a former GE in-house attorney because she allegedly revealed confidential information about the company to media and federal regulators after she was terminated, Cogan Schneier of the National Law Journal reports. Adriana Koeck, now known as Adriana Sanford, was handed a 60-day suspension from the D.C. Bar for disclosing confidential GE documents that she allegedly believed proved evidence of fraud.

I asked Michael McCabe, a California-based attorney who represents lawyers in ethics matters to give me his take.

Pretty Lucky. “She was, in my view, pretty lucky only to get a 60-day suspension considering the circumstances, including her failure to cooperatein the investigation, failure to rebut any of the factual findings, and failure to put on any evidence in mitigation or explanation as to why a less severe sanction was warranted,” said McCabe.

Play Defense. Because, according to an order from the appeals court, Koeck did not defend her disclosures, the bar review board's findings went uncontested. McCabe called this “a poor strategic move.” Still, a suspension was fair, said McCabe, because it sends a message about the lawyer's duty of confidentiality. “If the public loses faith in the sanctity of the duty of confidentiality, that potentially harms all members of the legal profession,” he told me.

Watch and listen

Center Court. Fellow in-house reporter Caroline Spiezio sat courtside recently to interview Golden State Warriors GC David Kelly. The busy legal leader talked about salary negotiations and building a new arena for the team. He also offered some sage career advice: “Lawyers, we aren't the show. Clients are the show.”

Privacy Fight. On the latest episode of his Unprecedented podcast, Law.com colleague, Ben Hancock interviews Microsoft's litigation chief David Howard about the company's Supreme Court showdown against the federal government over data privacy. Howard, a former U.S. prosecutor, talks about why the tech industry came together on the issue and why GDPR is the elephant in the room. Check out the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or Libsyn.

Question of the week –

Do you have a pressing question you'd like answered? If so, send it my way.

This week's question:

Germany is now enforcing a law that requires social media sites to act swiftly to remove hate speech, fake news and illegal material. Is this a good idea and how can social media platforms prepare to stay compliant?

“This is a good idea in theory, but the devil is in the details. Social media platforms will either need to have in place, or to develop quickly, mechanisms for monitoring and vetting content, and tracing content as it is shared or re-posted by others. While analytics using artificial intelligence have been developed to flag video content containing nudity, violence and some other offensive content, and tools are being developed to identify a wider range of offensive content, accomplishing this task real-time across all social media platforms will take time.

Moreover, social media platforms may be prohibited from employing these tools in the European Union, for example, because the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect this May prohibits processing personal data and will complicate use of this technology. In addition, Germany's law will be easier to enforce with respect to hate speech and illegal material, but more difficult with respect to 'fake news,' which includes a spectrum of stories, from those that are replete with falsehoods to those that are largely true but contain unintentional and insignificant errors.

Because I have concerns regarding how content will be determined to be 'fake,' I might favor a law that requires much greater transparency as to the source and support for each news item, with penalties associated with posting reports that lack transparency.”
—
James Walker, partner and general counsel at Richards Kibbe & Orbe. (Edited for clarity and length).

Don't miss –

Wednesday, February 21. Global Leaders in Law will hold a roundtable on “What To Do If Your CEO Resigns?” in Frankfurt. Sessions on the same topic are planned for Dusseldorf on February 22 and Milan on February 28. On February 27, the group will hold a roundtable on “Behavioural Economics” in Dublin. GLL is an invitation-only membership group, offering GCs a global platform for in-person collaboration to exchange ideas, receive advice and guidance from peers. For more information, contact Meena Heath at [email protected].

Wednesday-Thursday, February 21-22. Attorneys are gathering in Amsterdam later this month to discuss GDPR prep, a topic undoubtedly on the minds of many in-house counsel at the moment. The event will include a discussion on global data privacy policies from Heineken head of global privacy Anna den Hartog.

Thursday, February 22. For those of you who can't make it to Amsterdam on such short notice, perhaps a GDPR event in New York would be more convenient. Susan Wiseman, general counsel of Braze, will be among those speaking about how GDPR will impact U.S. brands and how legal departments should prepare at GDPR Beyond Borders: Expert Guidance for Global Brands.

Wednesday-Thursday, March 14-15. The Corporate IP Counsel Forum will soon be in New York, where counsel from GE, Intel, Microsoft and more will discuss the issues impacting IP strategies. More info and a full list of panelists here.

Wednesday-Friday, March 21-23. Good Lawyers to Great Lawyers, A Strategic Professional Development Retreat will take place in Orlando. The ACC Foundation's event will focus on strategic professional development and coaching. In-house lawyers from Petco, Abercrombie & Fitch, Wintrust Financial and Venture-Science will be present.

On the move —

Boomerang. Deutsche Bank's former global co-GC Christof von Dryanderhas returned to private practice with his former firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. He'll serve as senior counsel in the firm's Frankfurt office. Von Dryander shared the GC role at Deutsche Bank with Simon Dodds until they were replaced by the bank's EMEA general counsel Florian Drinhausen at the end of 2017.

Pumped Up. The American Heart Association promoted from within to fill its top legal role. M. Lewis Kinard, who joined the Dallas-based nonprofit's legal department in 2013, was promoted to general counsel seat vacated by Lynne Darrouzet, who is retiring.

Fight for the Right. The Human Rights Campaign has named Nicole Greenidge-Hoskins as its general counsel and senior vice president. The national LGBTQ civil rights organization announced Monday that Greenidge-Hoskins is stepping into the role, vacated by Robert Falk in November. Greenidge-Hoskins, who has experience in nonprofit and corporate positions, most recently served as associate GC and director for regulatory affairs with pharmacy network Mirixa Corp.

The briefing has been corrected to clarify that Walmart has not yet officially announced a settlement, but set aside a sum of $283 million.