OpenAI adds Netflix and Google veteran to growing roster of legal staff

OpenAI has hired Andrea Apella, former head of global competition at Netflix Inc., strengthening one of the fastest-growing legal teams in technology.

The San Francisco-based generative artificial intelligence company is seeking new funding at a valuation of about $100 billion. OpenAI has been hard at work building its legal department, hiring talent from the U.S. government, Big Law, and Big Tech.

Appella joined OpenAI this month as its first lawyer in London, where Hell is deputy general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Italian national will oversee a variety of competition, regulatory and policy issues.

OpenAI, its major financial backer Microsoft Corp., and other technology giants are facing antitrust investigations regarding their partnerships with AI. Appellas' hiring comes after European Union regulators recently announced new guardrails for AI tools.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also investigating the nature of Microsoft's investment in OpenAI, and the actual relationship between the two companies is of interest to EU regulators, bloc competition chief Margrethe Vestager told Bloomberg Television in January. stated in an interview.

The potential investigation by the EU watchdog comes after the UK Competition and Markets Authority announced it was considering a similar investigation following the sudden sacking and rehiring of OpenAIs CEO Sam Altman. .

competitive advantage

In addition to questions regarding recent boardroom drama, OpenAI is grappling with a growing number of lawsuits related to how its AI systems are trained.

The complex and challenging environment faced by organizations like OpenAI has provided work for many powerful law firms. These attorneys collaborate with in-house counsel to address legal, policy, and regulatory challenges.

Julie Brash, attorney, founder and CEO of Solutus Legal, said lawyers who are at the forefront of technological advancement and innovation have a strong competitive advantage in advancing their careers, especially in new areas such as AI. said it has a competitive advantage over other lawyers. Search Silicon Valley.

Brash said it was appealing to go to a well-known company with cutting-edge legal issues. It is exciting to be a part of a new law evolved from AI and to be a part of it as a lawyer. AI is permeating everything, and candidates with experience in that world will be highly marketable for future opportunities.

There's also a financial element.

Brash said there is potential for wealth and early retirement by joining an organization that has emerged as an early AI leader at the ground level, or at least close to it, and that ability is a unique recruiting tool. Ta. Brash has no inside knowledge of his OpenAI compensation grid, but he does know his general counsel, Choi Chang. The firm appears to have little difficulty recruiting and selecting top legal talent, she said.

Blasch said OpenAI has hired companies such as Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Airbnb, saying, “If they can get compensation in the typical range, there will be a lot of candidates from the so-called outliers in the compensation market.'' We will be able to extract people.” . That's what you're seeing now.

OpenAI employs more than half a dozen lawyers who previously worked at Google, including former head of international litigation Lenny Huang, who joined the company in 2018 after nearly a decade as Google's top copyright lawyer. This includes Fred von Lohmann, who retired in 2016.

OpenAI this month hired senior privacy counsel Charles Proctor from Google, after hiring former Google litigation director Nora Puckett as deputy general counsel in January. Two of his other former Googlers, Cary Bassin and Natalie Kim, left the company late last year to join OpenAI's legal team.

Meng Jia Yang, a former senior policy advisor at Airbnb, joined OpenAI this month as senior advisor for AI policy and regulation.

legal firepower

Appella, who advertised his new role at OpenAI on LinkedIn but declined to comment further, has worked for 25 years at major entertainment companies including Time Warner, 21st Century Fox and MTV Europe.

He worked at Netflix for three years before leaving in 2022. The streaming media giant reorganized its legal department and for the past five months, Apella has been serving as a consultant at Herbert Smith and Freehills, where he started his career.

OpenAI's desire for expertise extends beyond the technology sector as well. Last month, the company added attorney Katrina Mulligan, a national security expert who had been chief of staff to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth since 2022, to the national security and partnerships post.

Big Law is also a talent pool to tap into.

Last year, the company hired Heidi Schwartz, a former acting deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, as general counsel for competition. Mr. Schwartz was most recently a partner at Akin.

Tice Walters, a former Latham litigator who was seconded to another AI startup last year, joined OpenAI as a product advisor in February.

Heather Whitney, a former Morrison & Foerster employee who was part of Morrison & Foerster's AI steering committee after OpenAI was hit with a landmark lawsuit by the New York Times. He joined the company in January as a copyright law advisor. OpenAI also captured former employee Katherine Chasmer. At Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, he served as senior counsel at Stripe Inc. and as senior general counsel. Both MoFo and Wachtell are OpenAI's outside counsel.

One of the drawbacks of moving to a startup like OpenAI is that the stock is less liquid, Brash said. He said that while restricted stock units granted to employees are desirable, they can pose risks if the value of the stock declines after the company goes public or some other liquidity event occurs. He said there is. Startups offset that risk by increasing the percentage of cash included in payroll and target bonuses in salary plans.

After months of negotiations complicated by Mr. Altman's brief departure, Open AI last month completed a deal that allows employees to sell shares in privately held companies through tender offers, valued at 86 billion dollars.

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