Google office. Photo: Willy Barton/Shutterstock.com

A coalition of state attorneys general investigating Google over its antitrust practices has won a small victory for in-house counsel who someday may want to use their expertise as outside consultants.

Google had sought to limit what discovery documents could be seen by outside consultants hired by the states. In a petition filed last fall in a Travis County, Texas, court, Google named three specific consultants, and singled out Eugene Burrus, a former assistant general counsel at Microsoft Corp. in Seattle.

Google argued that absent the limitations, "Burrus likely will attempt to use his experience on this investigation, including his access to confidential Google information, to market himself to prospective clients with interests adverse to Google."

The internet search giant asked the court to set a cooling-off period for the outside consultants to keep them from working with other Google competitors and from using what they learned during this investigation to advise other clients.

Burrus on Monday did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The other two consultants are Roger Alford, a former assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division, and Cristina Caffarra, an antitrust and European competition expert at consultancy Charles River Associates.

The bipartisan group of state attorneys general from 49 states and territories are investigating Google's practices in coordination with federal authorities. The state's action is led by Ken Paxton, attorney general of Texas.

Last Friday Paxton's lawyers and Google reached agreement on narrower limitations on the consultants. To get access to materials provided by Google, the consultants now will have to sign an agreement saying they will not disclose confidential information or trade secrets.

The deal placed no limits on their future work.

In a statement, Paxton said, "Experts retained by the state will not be burdened with the unreasonable prohibitions sought by Google. They will be able to lend their important expertise to the state without fear of being frozen out of other employment within their field."

Burrus is no stranger to Google. In his bio he claimed to have developed the antitrust case that led to a $2.7 billion European Union fine against Google in 2017. At that time, Burrus was working for Microsoft, which was cooperating with the EU investigation against Google.

Burrus, according to LinkedIn, worked as an in-house attorney at Microsoft for 15 years, from 2002 to 2017. Before that, he was an antitrust counsel for American Airlines Inc. for five years.

After leaving Microsoft, he worked eight months for Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro in Seattle and then became a self-employed lawyer and consultant. He also lists himself currently as an external senior adviser to McKinsey & Co.