14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter is consolidating its legal team with the addition of prominent Google lawyer Alexander Macgillivray. The ex senior product and intellectual property counsel will act as Twitter's general counsel, according to the NYTimes, citing sources close to the hiring. While the microblogging service has mostly stayed out of trouble, Twitter felt the need for a better legal team after some recent lawsuits and the greater exposure it's bound to receive with its new size and popularity.
“Working in Google Legal has been a dream job. The people at Google are phenomenal. In every part and at every level of the company there are great people with multiple useful talents in addition to those that got them the job. For a lawyer, the issues we dealt with every day were fascinating, the real-world impact of our work was humbling, and the ethical compass of the place remained true,” Macgillivray wrote on his personal blog of his departure.
Macgillivray handled some important issues at Google, like the controversial settlement with book publishers and authors, allowing the company to scan and possibly offer to sell millions of out-of-print books. The deal is still drawing some scrutiny and has yet to be approved by the courts. Furthermore the US Department of Justice has launched an investigation after antitrust concerns on the deal and is expected to appear before the judge presiding the case with its findings in September.
The lawyer also represented Google in the case Viacom filed against YouTube, which is still undergoing, as well as other high-profile cases. Before working for Google he was a lawyer for the well-known Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati law firm.
Twitter has avoided too much legal attention so far with just the notable exception of the case MLB manager Tony La Russa filed, citing copyright infringement. The case was finally dropped, after rather confusing reports, and the issue at heart was mostly handled with the launch of the Verified Accounts program. Still with its increasing size and mainstream attention some problems are likely to appear and Twitter wants to be prepared.