WR Grace, Bank of Hawaii Looking for New Top Lawyers Next Year

Longtime law department leaders for WR Grace & Co. and the Bank of Hawaii Corp. are poised to step down at year’s end, ushering in a new in-house era for their companies.

Grace disclosed in a June 30 securities filing that general counsel Mark Shelnitz will resign after more than 37 years at the specialty chemicals giant. The company declined to say who will take over for Shelnitz, who has spent the past 15 years as general counsel at Grace and helped see it through a marathon bankruptcy case.

Mark Rossi, general counsel at Bank of Hawaii since 2007, is also heading for the exit in December. Rossi told Bloomberg Law that executive search firm Spencer Stuart has been retained to identify candidates to replace him. Brian Baxter has the story.

COMPLIANCE

Return-to-Work Changes Pose Litigation Trap for Overtime Rules
Employers navigating the many risks associated with reopening workplaces must pay close attention to an under-the-radar litigation trap—changes to a worker’s pre-virus role that make them newly eligible for overtime pay, wage-hour attorneys said.

AI Use to Screen Pandemic Job Seekers Could Lead to Bias Claims
Companies are making more use of algorithmic hiring tools to screen a flood of job applicants during the coronavirus pandemic amid questions about whether they introduce new forms of bias into the early vetting process.

California Data Queries Key as Enforcers ‘Go Live,’ Becerra Says
As California begins enforcing its landmark privacy law, businesses must make a habit of responding to consumers’ requests about their data, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said.

JPMorgan Pay Bias Case Tackles Scope of DOL Enforcement
JPMorgan Chase & Co. lost its most recent bid to nix Labor Department claims that the financial giant discriminates against women in pay, in a case that some attorneys say exemplifies hardships that federal contractors face in defending lengthy agency enforcement actions.

Rescue Cash Too Hot for KKR Proves Irresistible to Many PE Peers
Even inside battle-scarred KKR & Co., entering the political fray was enough to stoke unease.

CEOs Drop Climate Change Talk to Focus on Surviving Covid-19
Just as 2020 seemed like it might be a breakthrough year for corporations looking to combat climate change, the novel coronavirus emerged.

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PRACTITIONER INSIGHTS

INSIGHT: CEOs Want More Strategic Advice From General Counsel
CEOs want their general counsel to improve on business strategy, new market expansion, and industry knowledge, according to a new BarkerGilmore LLC and Chief Executive Group survey. GCs should be encouraged to move outside of the legal environment by learning about products, competitors, and customers and use that knowledge to contribute to senior leadership discussions, BarkerGilmore advisers say.

INSIGHT: Business Email Compromise—Who Bears the Loss?
Business email compromise scams have expanded in sophistication and scale, and fraudsters have stepped up their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. Debevoise & Plimpton attorneys discuss the emerging legal standard in disputes between buyers and sellers who fall victim to a BEC scam and who is responsible for the loss.

INSIGHT: Workplace Contact Tracing Apps--Legal Implications and Considerations
Employers looking to implement contact tracing policies must be mindful of the practical challenges and multiple regulatory schemes. Seyfarth attorneys examine several of these issues implicated by the use of contact tracing apps in the workplace.

INSIGHT: Would You Want Your ‘Chat’ Read Back to You in Court?
Chat systems are here to stay, especially in the new work-from-home reality of Covid-19. Crowell & Moring attorneys say companies can effectively navigate this new reality and lessen their legal risk and the discoverability of chats with planning and training.

BUSINESS & PRACTICE

Gender Pay Gap Wide Atop In-House Counsel Ladder, May Be Closing
The glass ceiling in corporate legal departments is still thick, but it could be showing some cracks.

Legal Job Gains Double in June, Sector Looks to Regain Footing
Employers added 7,500 legal jobs in June, more than doubling the prior month’s gain even as coronavirus spread worsens throughout the country.

Providence Health Taps New Top Lawyer Amid Financial Squeeze
One of the largest nonprofit Catholic health care providers in the U.S. has installed a new legal chief well-versed in distressed situations as it copes with financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Madison Square Garden Spin-off Snags Former MGM Legal Chief
The Madison Square Garden Co.’s recent split has resulted in a new top lawyer for the successor company that owns live entertainment assets like its famous namesake arena and New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Kushner Cos. Hires New General Counsel From East End Capital
Kushner Cos. LLC, the privately held real estate company owned by the family of White House adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, has hired Christopher Smith as its new general counsel.

Fox News Taps NYC Firm For Ed Henry Sexual Misconduct Probe
Fox News brought in New York law firm Davis & Gilbert to conduct the recent sexual harassment investigation that led to anchor Ed Henry’s ouster, sources familiar with the probe tell Bloomberg Law.

Pinterest Hires Outside Lawyer to Investigate Workplace Culture
Pinterest Inc. has hired a team of outside lawyers to investigate the company’s workplace culture following public complaints from former employees who say they faced racial discrimination.

LEGAL NEWS

Goldman Nears 1MDB Resolution With Effort to Avoid Guilty Plea
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in the final stages of resolving its biggest legal threat in a decade after tussling with the government on one critical issue: a potential guilty plea for the first time in Goldman’s history.

PG&E Says Prosecutor Wrong on ‘Callous Disregard’ for Safety
PG&E Corp. didn’t dispute the basic facts in a county prosecutor’s report that found it squarely at fault for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history, but took exception to being condemned for a “callous disregard” for safety.

Towers Watson Merger Suit Revived by Divided Delaware High Court
Former Towers Watson & Co. CEO John J. Haley must face a challenge to the company’s $18 billion merger-of-equals with Willis Group Holdings PLC, which put Haley at the helm of risk management giant Willis Towers Watson PLC and quintupled his pay, a divided Delaware Supreme Court ruled, reviving the case.

McKesson Board Finally Free of Governance Suit Over Price-Fixing
McKesson Corp.'s former senior leadership dodged a third attempt by an investor to blame its board and top executives for its alleged role in the nationwide generic drug price-fixing scandal, with a San Francisco federal judge saying the shareholder won’t get a fourth try.

JPMorgan Pay Bias Case Tackles Scope of DOL Enforcement
JPMorgan Chase & Co. lost its most recent bid to nix Labor Department claims that the financial giant discriminates against women in pay, in a case that some attorneys say exemplifies hardships that federal contractors face in defending lengthy agency enforcement actions.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

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