After Fox News, What Should Companies Know About Corporate Counsel Defendants?
When an in-house lawyer is named in a legal complaint, there are plenty of considerations to be made.
May 04, 2017 at 08:53 PM
14 minute read
As allegations of harassment and discrimination continue to surface against Fox News Channel, leading to the ouster of key players such as former CEO Roger Ailes and former host Bill O'Reilly, the name of another high-level employee—longtime Fox News attorney Dianne Brandi—has been turning up in legal complaints.
Recently filed lawsuits named Brandi, executive vice president of legal and business affairs at Fox News, as a defendant, raising the issue of how companies and their legal departments should respond when those in charge of ensuring that the company follows the law are accused of breaking it themselves.
“It's not a fun time in the life of the office of the general counsel for any entity that goes through this,” said Andrew Strong, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and former general counsel and compliance officer for the Texas A&M University System. “It creates a very heightened and acrimonious situation.”
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