NewsCorp nabs a new general counsel.
News Corporation plans on naming a new general counsel amid the tumultuous legal trouble it has encountered over its infamous phone hacking scandal.
According to Am Law Daily, NewsCorp will name Gerson Zweifach, a Washington DC litigator and partner at US law firm Williams & Connolly, as the company’s new general counsel.
The embattled in-house legal team at NewsCorp has been without a general counsel for over five months. Lawrence ‘Lon’ Jacobs made an unexpected exit last June – a month before the company’s phone hacking scandal reached severe levels. News of the World’s lawyer, Tom Crone, left after the paper collapsed.
The media giant appointed former deputy general counsel, Janet Nova, who heads up its corporate governance department, to serve as interim legal chief in July. The Wall Street Journal claims that Nova is expected to continue her stint at NewsCorp.
Reportedly, Zweifach will manage all legal work at the billion-dollar conglomerate. The experienced litigator has tried antitrust, securities, libel and complex commercial cases. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a series of cases.
Jacobs had been deputy general counsel from 1996-2004. He was later named general counsel following the retirement of Arthur Siskind, who served as the firm’s legal chief for 13 years.
