Legal News

AIG Picks Old Lehman Hand as New General Counsel

By Ashby Jones

This just in: WSJ reporters Serena Ng and Joann Lublin are reporting that AIG has asked Thomas A. Russo, the former top in-house lawyer at Lehman Brothers, to be its next general counsel, according to people familiar with the matter.

Handling legal affairs for AIG will be no small task. But this won’t be Russo’s first spin around the block; he served as the chief legal officer at Lehman firm for over 15 years through its 2008 bankruptcy, which was the biggest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. He was a close aide of former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld and left the firm at the end of 2008. He’s been at Patton Boggs in New York since the spring of 2009.

AIG has given Russo, 66 years old, a written offer letter and is discussing his proposed pay package with the office of U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, a person familiar with the matter said. It is not known if Russo has accepted the offer, though AIG officials expect him to, this person added.

Feinberg has authority to set compensation limits for top employees at companies that have received significant amounts of federal money. AIG does not need Feinberg's blessing to hire a new general counsel – and is just discussing the pay deal out of deference to him. The government has committed up to $182.3 billion in aid to support AIG.

Russo couldn't be immediately reached for comment. Russo is also a former deputy general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Prior to joining Lehman in 1993, Russo worked at law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

AIG’s previous top in-house lawyer, Anastasia Kelly, resigned last month after her salary was reduced as a result of U.S. pay curbs, the company said on Dec. 30. Kelly was given a severance package of about $3.9 million.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 11, 2010 (boomark / email).