addition to handling matters like securities filings and employment and human
resources counseling, the firm’s attorneys
have represented the company in arranging the lease for its new flagship store on
the Champs-Élysées in Paris, and have
assisted in negotiating a collaboration
with fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier.
“It’s truly like having another set of
eyes and ears around the world,” says
Chaloemtiarana. Orrick has “meetings
in which all of the attorneys who work
on Levi Strauss matters share their out-
comes in different jurisdictions, yielding
more consistent results.”
Townsend’s deal is similar to Orrick’s,
except that the IP firm is paid in quar-
terly increments. Levi Strauss has used
the same group of attorneys for domes-
tic intellectual property work for the
past two decades. They started at Heller
Ehrman in the late eighties; subsequently
formed their own law firm, Legal Strat-
egies Group; and then merged with
Townsend in 2004.
tion for the Treasury post. But Geithner
denied that he was involved in the decision to hide the deal, saying he recused
himself from the Fed’s day-to-day matters after he was nominated for Treasury
secretary in late November 2008. He was
confirmed in January 2009.
Baxter testified that there was never an
effort to mislead the public. “Our focus
The New York Fed’s GC testified that everything about the AIG deal was
disclosed “THAT WAS REQUIRED TO BE DISCLOSED.”
According to the e-mails, when the
SEC insisted on more information, Fed
lawyers negotiated an agreement for AIG
to file the material in a confidential document that wouldn’t be made public until
2018. One e-mail specifically expressed
concern that the SEC might disclose the
details to Congress, which had already
criticized the Fed for letting too much
money go to banks and corporations.
COURTESY OF MTV
After members of the oversight
committee read the e-mails, they grew
even angrier. They accused Baxter and
Geithner of trying to hide the deal from
Congress. During this period of secrecy,
Geithner was seeking Senate confirma-
was on ensuring accuracy and protecting
the taxpayers’ interests, during a time of
severe economic distress,” the GC said.
“All information was in fact disclosed
that was required to be disclosed by the
company.” He added that “the final deci-
sion [about disclosures] rested with AIG
and its external securities counsel.”
Baxter also insisted that Geithner
was not involved in the secrecy deci-
sion. Then who was? After the hearing,
a spokesman for the New York Fed told
Corporate Counsel only that the bank’s
“investment staff” had requested keep-
ing the deal secret in order to protect tax-
payers’ interests. —SuE REISINGER
INBOx
the Levi’s and Dockers brands. “One
could spend a huge amount of money
and never eradicate all the counterfeit-
ing and trademark infringements, so
you have to take a triage approach,” she
explains. “For example, if you are having
problems in a place where the laws are
not recognized, then maybe you deploy
your resources to a jurisdiction where
they are. It’s hard to do this when you
have counsel around the world that are
not connected to one another.”
Although the agreements with
both Orrick and Townsend are going
smoothly, they’re still a work in progress,
says Krane. She adds, “I look forward to
2011 because I believe the operation will
be even more seamless then.” O
QUOTED
Conan O’Brien, in one of his last monologues as host
of The Tonight Show. (O’Brien, who left the show in
January after a bitter dispute with NBC, added, “I
should give that guy a call.”) MTV’s Jersey Shore, a
reality show about eight young men and women who
live in a Garden State beach house, became a pop culture sensation this winter. The Situation (below) is also
known as Mike Sorrentino.
