Expert Witness And Well Known Corporate Law Professor Richard W Painter Discusses Internal Investigation Of GM LawCrossing

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Expert Witness And Well Known Corporate Law
Professor Richard W Painter Discusses Internal
Investigation Of GM
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• Professional OverviewRecent hearings in the
  House and Senate are showing that GM already knew
  about some of the recent defects in the ignition
  switches in some of its vehicles. However, this
  information was not shared with other parts of
  the company, which has led to deaths that could
  have been prevented. We sat down with Richard W.
  Painter, an influential corporate law professor
  at University of Minnesota Law School, who has
  very insightful opinions regarding the case with
  GM.
• According to an article featured in Corporate
  Counsel, GM In-House Lawyers Pulled Into Ignition
  Switch Probe, Mr. Painter told Reuters that if GM
  wanted to reassure shareholders, it should hire
  an independent law firm. "But they may want to
  disclose just enough to keep shareholders
  informed, and keep other things private to keep
  legal defenses available to them." Does he
  believe this is GM's best option given their
  current situation? "I cannot answer that question
  without more information - information that GM
  knows that I do not - about the company's
  liability exposure.
• "GM spokesman Selim Bingol told Reuters there is
  no conflict of interest, and Valukas" outside
  counsel Anton Valukas of Jenner Block who is
  leading the internal probe for GM "has been
  charged to go where the facts take him and give
  the company an unvarnished report on what
  happened. He is the ideal person to do that,
  given his understanding of our business and his
  reputation for adhering to the highest standards.

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" Does Mr. Painter disagree with Selim Bingol?
"No. For some purposes, Jenner Block may be the
ideal firm for this investigation even if the
firm is not as independent of GM as some other
firms might be. After graduating from law
school, Mr. Painter clerked for Judge John T.
Noonan Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit. He later practiced at Finn
Dixon Herling in Stamford, Connecticut, and
Sullivan Cromwell in New York City.Mr.
Painter has served as a tenured member of the law
faculty at theUniversity of Oregon School of
Law and the University of Illinois College of
Law, where he was the Guy Raymond and Mildred Van
Voorhis Jones Professor of Law from 2002 to
2005. This article first appeared Expert
Witness And WellKnown Corporate Law Professor
Richard W Painter Discusses Internal
Investigation Of GM on LawCrossing, also on
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