Adding to this month’s collection of international media coverage, on September 28, 2017, Douglas Wigdor appeared in a feature profile in The Independent (a London-based digital news publication) titled, Meet the Trump-supporting attorney who could take down Fox News. Mr. Wigdor currently represents over 20 current and/or former Fox News employees in various claims of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and defamation against the network.
The article names Wigdor LLP as “a high-powered employment law firm known for taking on some of the biggest companies in the US.” Read more.
“In litigation, Mr Wigdor can be blistering. He has taken to calling 21st Century Fox ’18th Century Fox’ and accusing them of ‘plantation style management’ in official statements,” writes Emily Shugerman of The Independent. “With an almost surgical removal, Mr Wigdor explained how he separates his work from his politics: As an attorney, his job is to prosecute unlawful acts – regardless of who committed them.” Read more.
“Earlier this year, Mr Wigdor flew to England to tell Ofcom, the British communications regulator, about all of these complaints,” the article reads.
Sitting in his sleek, downtown office on a recent afternoon in New York, the attorney told me he did so out of a “great affinity for the English people”. (Mr Wigdor’s wife is English; both of their children hold UK passports.)
While the information may not have swayed Ofcom – the agency said in June that it would not order a broadcasting standards investigation – it appears to have had an effect on the Culture Secretary.
Internal communications obtained by The Guardian show Ms Bradley was concerned by the sexual harassment allegations against Fox higher-ups, and with the network’s now-retracted story about a murdered Democratic staffer. On 12 September, she overruled Ofcom and directed the Competition and Markets Authority to start an investigation.
Asked about this development, Mr Wigdor replied in his usual, diplomatic manner, calling it “the right thing to do for the British people”.
“I’m a vocal advocate of transparency and informed decisions,” he told me, adding that his only motivation is to make sure Ofcom gets the “full set of facts.”
The article also mentions a notable conversation held between Ms. Shugerman and Arthur Spatt, a Senior Judge for the Eastern District of New York:
Arthur Spatt, the judge who Mr Wigdor clerked for after law school, told me he wasn’t surprised that his mentee took on such high-profile cases with ease.
“He is that type of person,” Judge Spatt said.
And what type of person is that?
“A winner.”
The Independent UK
“Meet the Trump-supporting attorney who could take down Fox News”
September 28, 2017
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