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Genie Gavenchak, the deputy general counsel at NewsCorp, said at Corporate Counsel's 2019 General Counsel Conference in New York that having an actionable plan in place before crisis happens is "absolutely critical."

"I think it's critical unless you want something to blow up in your face," Gavenchak said.

One of the steps is to have a "bridgeline" with various stakeholders, she said. This way everyone who needs to be in the know for a crisis can be reached at the same time.

"At the earliest stage, communication is critical," Brockton Bosson, a partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, said.

Bosson said risk assessment requires a deep look into business operations to anticipate where the reputational risks may be coming from so when a crisis does happen, a plan can be put into action.

"Reputational compliance focus should be appropriately granular," Bosson said. "We had a matter where the company had part of their supply chain in South America and we had to assess the risks around partnering with these businesses."

In the event of a crisis, the general counsel should be the first to speak to law enforcement and putting together and disseminating service packets to present the company's case, Gavenchak said.

Does your company prepare for a reputational crisis? If so, how? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

What's Happening

Moving On Up

In years past, general counsel had been siloed to the legal department and were viewed as someone who stifled business ideas. However, in recent months GCs and CLOs have been promoted to positions where they are less responsible for legal and more responsible for business decisions.

John Rakow was made interim CEO of uBiome during a time of turmoil at the company. He said he was prepared for the role because of his long in-house career and having worked with a number of CEOs. One of the biggest challenges he faced was handing his legal responsibilities to others.

"I'd have to consciously pull myself away and say the deputy general counsel can take care of those issues," Rakow said.

Recruiters said one of the positives of having an attorney lead the company is that they are not brownnosers and have no problem telling the truth to the board. However, lawyers who hope to one day leave their legal role for a full-time business-facing role need to learn to accept risk and break away from precedent.

"Precedent can be the enemy in business," Mike Evers, founder of Evers Legal, said. "That is a concern that boards have with GCs and with CFOs: Are these individuals with a vision or are they just technicians who are good with what they know?"

Stepping Out Of Legal

Midyear hiring remained high in the fall and furthered the trend of lawyers stepping out of legal and into more business-facing roles. Below are some highlights of who moved where in September.

➤ The New York Jets promoted general counsel Hymie Elhai to become its franchise president.

➤ Interim Wells Fargo CEO, C. Allen Parker will be moving back to his role of general counsel. The company announced last week that Bank of New York Mellon CEO, Charles Scharf, will be the permanent CEO. Parker will continue to serve as interim CEO until Oct. 21.

➤ The Estée Lauder Cos. named a longtime Thomson Reuters attorney, Deirdre Stanley, to be its general counsel. She replaced Sara Moss, who was promoted from the general counsel role to be the company's vice chairman.

➤ Walmart named a former Amazon lawyer, Nuala O'Connor, to serve as its first chief counsel of digital citizenship.

CIA General Counsel In The Spotlight

The CIA agent-turned-whistleblower first submitted concerns over President Donald Trump's alleged abuse of power to the general counsel of the CIA, Courtney Elwood, anonymously. Elwood then discussed the accusations with Justice Department officials and White House Counsel John Eisenberg before she determined the concerns had a reasonable basis.

The whistleblower felt his concerns were not being taken seriously, which prompted him to file the complaint with Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community.

Sources told other publications that Elwood, who became the CIA's GC in 2017, was following government protocol by reaching out to the White House and the Justice Department.

Don't Miss

Monday, Oct. 14 to Wednesday, Oct. 16 – The Minority Corporate Counsel Association will be hosting its Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference in New York at the New York Hilton Midtown. The MCCA will host a Diversity Gala on the last night of the conference at the American Museum of Natural History.

Wednesday, Oct. 16 to Friday, Oct. 18 – Corporate Counsel will be hosting the Women, Influence & Power In Law conference at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C. Speakers will include Lori Bennett, general counsel at Aetion Inc.; Donna Bucella, chief compliance officer at 7-Eleven Inc.; and Emelita Hernandez-Bravo, head of legal operations at Fitbit.

Thursday, Oct. 24 to Friday Oct. 25 – The 2019 TECHGC National Summit will be held at the New York Stock Exchange. Speakers will include Brian Brooks, chief legal officer at Coinbase; Amit Khanna, general counsel at Knotel; and Ileana Falticeni, general counsel at Good Data.

On The Move

✦ Airbnb Inc. ✦ Rich Baer has been named the top lawyer at the home-sharing company as it prepares to go public in 2020. He is slated to begin his new role in October and will report to COO Belinda Johnson, who previously served as the company's CLO.

✦ NASCAR Holdings Inc. ✦ Tracey Lesetar-Smith was named the general counsel for the professional stock car racing company. Lesetar-Smith replaces Karen Leetzow, who has worked with the company for the past 20 years, Previously Lesetar-Smith worked as the top lawyer at Bellator MMA.

✦ Shryne Group Inc. ✦ John Malone has been tapped to serve as the first general counsel for the cannabis company. He previously worked as outside counsel at Arent Fox, where he helped several cannabis companies get their start.