Welcome back to Inside Track!

This week the Association of Corporate Counsel filed a recommendation to the District of Columbia Bar Association asking it not to change the rules of professional conduct to address perceived problems with outside counsel guidelines.

The DC Bar is seeking comment on whether or not it should regulate the extent by which clients could contractually require lawyers to engage or refrain from certain practices. The ACC noted in its letter to the DC Bar that outside counsel already has the right to refuse terms they deem too restrictive.

The DC Bar says it has concerns that some restrictions placed on outside counsel may restrict the public's access to legal representation. For example, “[T]erms that define the 'client' as including all subsidiaries, affiliates, or parent companies of the entity to which the lawyer's services pertain, regardless of whether the work relates in any way to those affiliated entities or involves access to confidential information of those affiliated entities, and in some instances, regardless of whether the lawyer is in a position to determine the identity of such related entities” can be restrictive.

The ACC however says these issues are best dealt with through conversations between the client and outside counsel.

“Occam's Razor may be the best precedent here. Changes to the rules are not necessary to address the problems noted by the committee. They would complicate, rather than clarify, the delicate relationships of outside counsel with their clients,” ACC associate counsel Mary Blatch said.

Do you believe there should be limits on what clients can ask of their counsel? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

What's Happening

 

Every July, Corporate Counsel magazine releases its best legal department of the year. This year, AT&T was named best legal department based on its victory in a six-week trial, its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, and its injunction which helped restore the White House press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta.

David McAtee, senior executive vice president and general counsel at AT&T, took on President Donald Trump twice in 2018, and won. In 2017, the Department of Justice challenged the merger between AT&T and Time Warner. McAtee said he did not think the DOJ would challenge the merger, but felt the need to prepare for it just in case.

That preparation was well warranted because the DOJ challenged the merger and AT&T's litigation team worked around the clock to make sure it would go through.

Daniel Petrocelli, a partner at O'Melveny & Myers who worked closely with the legal department, said he's never seen a legal department move more smoothly.

“I've had the pleasure of working on my fair share of high-profile, demanding matters, but I've never seen an in-house legal team work so seamlessly and effectively under such pressure as the AT&T legal department,” Petrocelli said.

To eliminate any “tribalism” between law firms, he made sure any team working on a trial task, such as closing arguments or witness examination, had lawyers from at least three different firms.

“We have this philosophy of 'two is one, and one is none' that we replicated in the center. The proof is in the pudding that this is a great way to run a large legal department and a massive trial and appellate endeavor,” McAtee said.

Abortion Impacting Business

 

When Georgia passed its “heartbeat” abortion law, several entertainment companies threatened to pull production out of the state. Law.com reporter Sue Reisinger reached out to several entertainment companies to see how they would handle the new law in Georgia.

Netflix general counsel, David Hyman, was not doing interviews on the topic. However, the company confirmed its chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, had previously said Netflix would help in the ACLU's lawsuit to repeal the law. The ACLU sued Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp claiming the law is unconstitutional.

AMC Networks told Sue if the “highly restrictive legislation” goes into effect it would reconsider whether or not it will continue to operate in Georgia. AMC's general counsel Jamie Gallagher was not available to speak on the subject.

The CEO of Walt Disney Co., Robert Iger, told Reuters in May he doubted the company would continue to work in Georgia if the ban goes into effect.

What I've Been Reading

The general counsel of Williamson County, Texas is facing scrutiny for keeping his private practice job, according to a report in The Texas Monitor. Under Texas law, Jason Nassour was either supposed to close down his practice after completing his pending cases or he would keep it open as long as he took a 20% pay cut from his government job. Since the firm is being kept open, his salary should be $112,000, but he is currently making $137,000. According to a report in Bloomberg, some of the largest law firms are finding ways to compete with alternative legal service providers. Greenberg Traurig is launching an alternative service called Recurve. However, there are some doubters. Mark Cohen, CEO of Legal Mosaic, said he doesn't think law firms are suited to do the work better than those already in the marketplace.

The manufacturing of internet of things products is creating new data and cybersecurity questions in manufacturing, according to The Indiana Lawyer. One of those issues is the law moves more slowly than the technology. Senior counsel for Cummins Inc., Kirsten Keefe, said she deals with that problem by staying engaged with various industry groups.

Don't Miss

Thursday, July 4 – Global Leaders in Law will be hosting a “What Keeps You Up at Night?” event at Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin, Ireland. On Saturday, July 6, GLL will be hosting a GC to CEO event at G Hotel in Galway, Ireland. GLL is an invitation-only membership group offering general counsel a global platform for in-person collaboration to exchange ideas and receive advice and guidance from peers. For more information, contact Meena Heath at [email protected].

Tuesday, July 9 – The New York Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel will be hosting a program on Drafting Agreements and Avoiding Unnecessary Litigation at Three Bryant Park. Topics will include limitations of liability, indemnification provisions and choice of law provisions. Kathleen Masey and Neil Steiner, partners at Dechert, will be speaking.

Thursday, July 11 – Global Restructuring Review will be hosting its Fourth Annual Latin Lawyer Restructuring. Speakers will include Jennifer O'Neil, director at BlackRock; Alejandro Sainz Orantes, a partner at Cervantes Sainz; and Michael Fitzgerald, partner at Paul Hastings.

On The Move

 

✦ Fox Corp. ✦ Claudia Teran, who currently serves as the general counsel of Fox Sports, will take on the added responsibility of the general counsel at Fox Corp. She replaces Rita Tuzon, who announced last week that she would be stepping down from her role. Teran will report for Fox Corp.'s chief legal officer Viet Dinh.

✦ CNA Financial Corp. ✦ Ramon Gonzalez has been made the general counsel of the Chicago-based commercial insurer. He will begin his role later this month and succeed Scott Louis Weber, who left the company for a job at DLA Piper. Gonzalez previously worked as the chief legal officer for QBE North America.

✦ Bristow Group ✦ Victoria Lazar was named to be the next general counsel of the aviation services company. Lazar replaces Timothy Knapp, who left the company last year as a part of the company's restructuring effort. Lazar spent the past 11 years as executive counsel at General Electric.