Uber Names Lawyer Who Co-Led Harassment Probe as Deputy Counsel
Uber named as deputy general Tammy Albarrán, a lawyer who co-authored an extensive report Uber’s harassment issues.
(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. named as deputy general counsel Tammy Albarrán, a lawyer who co-authored an extensive report about the ride-sharing company’s cultural and harassment issues.
Albarrán, an expert in white-collar defense at the law firm Covington & Burling, will report to Uber’s new Chief Legal Officer Tony West. Albarrán helped lead a 14-week investigation into Uber’s culture with her colleague, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, following an explosive blog post by former Uber software engineer Susan Fowler that described sexual harassment incidents at the company. The report produced by Holder and Albarrán, whose complete findings have never been released, called for a number of measures to limit then-Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick’s influence at the company.
Albarrán replaces Angela Padilla, who has left the company but will serve as an adviser. Padilla was part of a team that allowed Uber’s legal problems to pile up. The San Francisco-based company has faced at least five criminal probes by the U.S. Justice Department, covering competitive software practices, potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and pricing policies, among other issues. The status of those investigations is unclear.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over in September, has made shoring up the company’s legal team a top priority. His first hire in the new job was West, who was once the third-highest ranking official at the Justice Department under President Barack Obama and then a senior executive at PepsiCo Inc..
“From Day 1, Tony West’s top priority has been to build the most effective, talented in-house legal department anywhere,” Uber said in a statement. “As co-author of the Covington report, Tammy literally wrote the book on what doing the right thing means for Uber.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at enewcomer@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Robert Fenner
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.