John Dean: For all you need to know about Rupert Murdoch, look at his lawyers

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The answer depends on the width and depth of illegal behaviour. Cover-ups seldom work. At this time we know little about any cover up at News Corp, but hints have emerged. While not an ideal measurement of wrongdoing, I find there is usually a direct correlation between lawyers hired and the seriousness of the problem. Accordingly, I've been watching the lawyers who have become key actors in this story, and their actions suggest that this scandal will not be contained in the UK. Rather, with time, it will become an American scandal, although possibly with less consequences than in the UK, given the skilled legal team now at work.

(He's referring here to attorney Joel Klein)


Klein in turn reports to Viet Dinh, a member of the News Corp board since 2004, a former assistant attorney general in the George W Bush department of justice, and currently a law professor at Georgetown University as well as a private attorney. Viet Dinh, another Harvard Law graduate and former US supreme court law clerk, is considered the conservatives' "Mr Fixit" in Washington DC legal circles. His law firm, Bancroft Associates, is known for its ability to get defendants off on legal technicalities. It appears Klein and Dinh have hired all the key players who might be helpful in dealing with News Corp's criminal problems in the US.

Klein and Dinh surely now know the full extent of their problems. If they could state that no person remaining in the News Corp organisation, or the corporation itself, was involved in any criminal misconduct, there would be no reason for them to remain silent. Such a statement would largely end the story. The fact that the lawyers have absolved no one suggests to me that they have discovered potentially serious problems. Only Murdoch is suggesting the scandal will remain in the UK, and he is not the most reliable source.

If the problems are half as serious as the level of legal talent retained suggests, I would not be surprised if News Corp co-operates with the prosecutors to get this matter behind the organisation. Rupert might throw his son James to the wolves. If evidence of wrongdoing by senior figures is found, the lawyers can defend it while requiring the government to prove its case, but they cannot assist in a cover up – a reality I learned the hard way. Rather they must withdraw from representation. And if that happens, we will all know they are fleeing a sinking ship.


MUCH more at The Guardian, UK.