NYT Appoints New General Counsel

The New York Times announced Monday it is promoting its deputy general counsel Diane Brayton to the top lawyer position, starting Jan. 1.

She takes over the role of general counsel from Kenneth Richieri, who is retiring and held the role since 2006. Richieri had joined the company in 1983 and slowly moved up, according to a press release .

Brayton joined the company in 2004, and also moved up internally, to corporate secretary in 2011 and deputy general counsel in May. Previously, she was in the legal department at Credit Suisse First Boston and an associate at Cleary Gottlieb. She declined a request for an interview.

Brayton has advised on “corporate transactions, securities law matters, corporate governance and compensation,” according to the release.

In addition to publishing its flagship newspaper, the company also has interests in a number of side-businesses and has been on an acquisition spree: In October, it made a reported $30 million all-cash acquisition of The Wirecutter and its sibling site Sweethome, which both review products. The sites make money through commissions when readers click through a product review and make a purchase from partner sites, such as Amazon.

In August, it purchased a marketing agency, called Fake Love, which specializes in virtual and augmented reality and will help its T Brand Studio division create branded content for companies such as Ford. The size of theall-cash deal was not disclosed.

Its legal department recently made headlines:During the election, Donald Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz, of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, sent the paper a letter threatening a lawsuit if it did not retract and apologize for an article in which two women accused the current president-elect of inappropriately touching them.

In response, David McCraw, an assistant general counsel and vice president, wrote a letter to Kasowitz in which the paper refused to retract the article, and welcomed any suit. After publishing the letter on the New York Times’ website, it was viewed more than one million times in the first 24 hours.

“It’s not unusual to get letters from lawyers, he said in an interview with Big Law Business. “Other than the high-profile nature of this client, it was not atypical of the letters I receive.”

The legal department has about 10 lawyers and handles securities matters, labor and employment, intellectual property and first amendment issues, according to McCraw, who is the top lawyer handling newsroom matters.

As general counsel, Brayton will report to CEO Mark Thompson.