* Team of lawyers coached Rupert Murdoch and son before
hearing
* Rupert Murdoch seemed less rehearsed than James
* Boasted to panel he was going off-message
By Georgina Prodhan and Mark Hosenball
LONDON/WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch is
famous for not taking advice, but even the world’s most powerful
media mogul had to submit to days of preparation by top lawyers
before testifying to a British press ethics inquiry.
Although the 81-year-old appeared impetuous in many of his
retorts and barbed one-liners, he had been prepared for the
Leveson Inquiry by two of his company’s top legal minds,
according to people familiar with the coaching who declined to
be named because they were not authorised to speak on the
subject.
Gerson Zweifach, News Corp’s chief legal counsel,
and Joel Klein, an ex-White House lawyer and company board
member who is helping lead a corporate clean-up in response to
the phone-hacking scandal, held practice sessions with Murdoch.
One of those familiar with the coaching said Murdoch’s
preparation took “days”. Another said some rehearsals took place
in London before his appearance at the inquiry, where he
answered questions on phone-hacking and political influence.
By contrast, his son James, appearing the day before Rupert,
gave a more polished but sometimes mechanical performance,
reflecting days of intensive coaching by a team including
public-relations specialists.
One of his advisers, who was not involved in briefing him
for the inquiry, said: “I thought he sounded overly lawyered and
too convoluted. He also seems incapable of straight answers. I
thought his father did better.”
News Corp declined to comment for this article.
In court, Rupert Murdoch gave the impression of having paid
little attention to his coaching, even boasting he was ignoring
it as he launched an attack on Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily
Mail, a rival to Murdoch’s daily tabloid The Sun.
“I’m under strict instructions by my lawyers not to say
this,” he began, prompting Judge Brian Leveson to respond: “I
think you’ve just caused three coronaries,” referring to
Murdoch’s contingent of lawyers in the court.
Murdoch continued: “But I was really shocked by the
statement of Mr Dacre the other day, that his editorial policy
is driven by commercial interests. I think that is about the
most unethical thing I’ve read for a long time.”
Zweifach, a former litigator with white-collar criminal
defence law firm Williams & Connolly, was in court with Murdoch,
as were Klein, senior Linklaters partner John Turnbull,
Murdoch’s wife Wendi, son Lachlan and several others.
Williams & Connolly is advising News Corp on how to deal
with U.S. government inquiries.
Turnbull got to his feet in agitation when Murdoch agreed
there had been a corporate cover-up of the scandal, causing a
delay in proceedings as Leveson urged him to sit down and not to
repeat the action.
“Rupert famously doesn’t take advice,” said a person
familiar with the Murdochs. “James does, he’s certainly taken
the legal advice very seriously.”
WORD PERFECT
James’s days of careful preparation by a team of four or
five lawyers and communications specialists showed as he
appeared word-perfect, especially in the telling and retelling
of key events where he ran the risk of incriminating himself.
James Murdoch had spent some time preparing in New York
before more rehearsals in London just before the hearing, said
one person familiar with the situation.
His team was led by Jeremy Sandelson, global head of
litigation for Clifford Chance, who also steered James through
his November appearance before a parliamentary committee
investigating the phone-hacking scandal, two sources said.
Clifford Chance did not respond to a request for comment.
Sandelson’s former clients include Piers Morgan, a former
editor of Murdoch’s News of the World and of the rival Daily
Mirror, whom he helped clear of charges related to
share-tipping.
James Murdoch’s team also included Matthew Anderson, his
right-hand man who has just quit as group director of strategy
and corporate affairs for News Corp Europe and Asia but
continues to be a senior adviser to the company.
Anderson did not respond to a request for comment.
Anderson was the boss of Frederic Michel, News Corp’s top
London lobbyist, who is at the centre of questions on whether
News Corp had inappropriate access to ministerial time and
sensitive information during a contested takeover of BSkyB
last year.
Numerous emails between Michel and James Murdoch were read
out in court during James’s appearance on Tuesday, in which
Michel boasted of assurances he had been given about the
progress of approving the bid by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Hunt’s top aide, Adam Smith, resigned the following day, and
senior opposition figures have called for the minister himself
to go, or at least to subject himself to an investigation.
