Rebecca Boon Guest Lectures at Columbia Law School on Sexual Harassment and Shareholder Litigation

February 25, 2019

In the wake of the high-profile revelations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct at Fox News, BLB&G prosecuted a groundbreaking shareholder derivative litigation against Fox parent company Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., arising from the fallout at the embattled network.  Senior Counsel Rebecca Boon was an integral part of the BLB&G team.  Drawing on her experiences, Ms. Boon was recently invited to Columbia Law School as a guest lecturer in Professor Suzanne Goldberg’s class Advanced Civil Procedure: Civil Rights Litigation in 2020

Ms. Boon’s lecture focused on sexual harassment issues in derivative litigation, using BLB&G’s historic Fox action as a case study.  She also discussed the increase in shareholder litigation addressing sexual harassment and discrimination, and other #metoo issues, following the successful Fox case, as well as highlighting how shareholder litigation can be used as a tool to create meaningful social reforms, further the public interest, and promote civil rights. 

Late last year Ms. Boon also appeared as the narrator in a video documentary produced by Dow Jones’ MarketWatch, covering some of these very same themes –  discussing both BLB&G’s litigation and the potential for shareholder litigation to create meaningful change in the boardroom.  As she discussed both in the classroom and in the video, after nearly 18 months of litigation, discovery, and negotiation related to the shocking misconduct and the Board’s extensive alleged governance failures, the BLB&G team obtained a landmark settlement with two key components: 1) the first-ever Board-level watchdog of its kind –  the "Fox News Workplace Professionalism and Inclusion Council" of experts (WPIC) – majority independent of the Murdoch family, the Company and Board; and 2) one of the largest financial recoveries – $90 million – ever obtained in a pure corporate board oversight dispute.  The WPIC is expected to serve as a model for public companies in all industries.  Read more about the Fox case and settlement here.
 

Ms. Boon practices out of the firm’s New York office, where she prosecutes securities fraud, corporate governance and shareholder rights litigation for the firm's institutional investor clients, and has been a senior member of teams responsible for recovering nearly $1 billion for defrauded investors.