Colin Stretch, general counsel of Facebook, testifies before Congress on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections. Photo: Diego Radzinschi/ALM

Facebook took another public hit last week following an in-depth New York Times report on the company's handling of fake news, hate speech and data breaches on its platform.

The report, released Wednesday, left some asking who, if anyone, Facebook would fire.

For general counsel Colin Stretch it seems the report, which claims he was one of few executives who knew about Russian interference prior to the 2016 election, may actually extend his time at Facebook. The company's top lawyer was set to leave next month, but, according to reports from Recode, he now plans to stay into 2019.

Steve John, founder of legal recruiting firm Steven John & Associates, said that's not an uncommon decision for legal leaders who had planned to leave pre-crisis. But, he added, some GCs will still leave a company during its rough patch.

“That is actually more common,” he said. Some companies prefer a leadership overhaul, as Uber Technologies Inc. did with its legal team last year.

While Uber found current CLO Tony West to take its top legal spot after Salle Yoo left in 2017, a replacement may not come easily for Facebook.

John said Facebook's recent troubles could complicate its search for Stretch's successor.

“I think that thoughtful, well-seasoned, credible lawyers who would naturally [fit] a role like this are going to look at it with a tremendous degree of skepticism and a heightened sense of a need to do due diligence and to work their inside network to understand better what it would be like,” he said. “It's going to be a very difficult search to sell.”

Facebook's next general counsel could also face a different set of responsibilities and challenges than Stretch, who joined the Menlo Park, California-based company in 2010. Since then, Facebook has faced accusations of political bias, not doing enough to combat Russian election interference and protect user data from breaches and even contributing to a genocide in Myanmar.

Legal recruiters said the company's next top lawyer may have regulatory experience, as politicians on both sides of the aisle have discussed the possibility of increased legislation for social media platforms.

Sarah Breen, the national director of in-house search for legal recruiting firm Parker + Lynch, said “privacy and government relations” are two areas of expertise she'd expect Facebook to be focused on when hiring a new GC.

The president of Evers Legal Search firm, Mike Evers, said it's possible Facebook would also want a “litigator who can strongly defend existing [company] culture against waves of negative press and pending regulation.”

He and Breen noted that in Facebook's case, unlike Uber's, the new GC will still report to CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg. Uber's founder and first CEO Travis Kalanick had already been replaced by current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi when West joined, as part of a companywide culture and leadership change.

Facebook's new legal leader may not be hired as part of a culture change, as West was, but rather as someone to help battle external issues the company is facing.

“[Facebook] desperately needs somebody who, regardless of the messaging internally, will, to the outside, restore or at least look like a statement on a commitment to do something different,” John said. “To stand up and acknowledge mistakes and demonstrate they're doing the hard work of returning to their core mission.”