Uber Names Tony West Chief Legal Counsel

Uber has hired Tony West as its Chief Legal Officer. West arrives at Uber after serving as the General Counsel at PepsiCo, and before that, as an Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ during the Obamaadministration. The DOJ, by the way, is one of the very agencies probing some of Uber’s business activities. The Harvard undergrad/Yale Law School graduate is nonetheless well equipped to contend with a number of criminal probes and one of the largest legal battles playing out in Silicon Valley -- a lawsuit against Uber from Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car unit, Waymo. While in government, West helped the DOJ secure a nearly $17 billion settlement with Bank of America over toxic mortgage securities, and played an integral role in the 2011 decision by the Obama administration to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriages. West is married to Maya Harris, a former Senior Advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and his sister-in-law is Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA). More here.