Netflix Hires Mayer Brown Partner McGarrity Amid Tax Battles

Netflix Hires Mayer Brown Partner McGarrity Amid Tax Battles

Netflix Inc. has recruited a new world tax controversy lead in William McGarrity as the streaming media huge faces a variety of tax-connected legal and regulatory challenges.

McGarrity, who joined Netflix previous month, was most recently a companion at legislation agency Mayer Brown in Chicago. A new tax on streaming entertainment products and services adopted by the metropolis throughout the pandemic has prompted a movement by other municipalities to put into action related tax regimes.

Joshua Mishcoe, vice president of worldwide tax at Netflix, verified by way of email the Los Gatos, Calif.-based mostly company’s use of McGarrity. Mishcoe said Netflix backfilled the function adhering to the departure of its earlier world wide tax controversy guide.

“We are constantly intrigued in efforts by different jurisdictions to impose electronic providers taxes, but that isn’t truly the target of this position,” said Mishcoe. He joined Netflix in mid-2021 after serving as vice president of tax planning, controversy, coverage, and mergers and acquisitions at Hewlett Packard Business Co.

Netflix “will emphasis on taking care of our audit system for a assortment of unique taxes,” Mischoe explained.

Sonja Schiller, McGarrity’s predecessor, joined Alphabet Inc.-owned Google past summer time in a regulatory and litigation counsel job, according to her LinkedIn profile and Illinois bar registration. Schiller was an affiliate at Baker McKenzie and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom ahead of Microsoft Corp. hired her in 2018. She spent 4 a long time there right before relocating to Netflix in January 2022.

Netflix also recently adjusted its shell out for David Hyman, the company’s longtime main authorized officer and company secretary. Netflix disclosed in a Dec. 23 securities filing that Hyman’s $11 million in complete payment will keep on being the identical through fiscal 2023, despite the fact that he’ll obtain $4 million in salary and $7 million in inventory, a slight adjust from the development of his 2022 pay back deal.

Hyman, a former associate at Morrison & Foerster, has been Netflix’s top rated in-house law firm because 2002. Netflix noticed Stefanie Markman, an 8-yr veteran of its legal group, exit previous summer time to turn into the top rated law firm for Candle Media Co. Ltd., a startup formed by previous Walt Disney Co. executives.

An on-line careers board reveals that Netflix has more than a dozen legal-associated positions for which the company is on the lookout to retain the services of.

Netflix and two of its in-home attorneys had been also strike with an amended criticism final week in a gender and race discrimination lawsuit filed by Nandini Mehta, a previous director of lawful and organization affairs at the firm. Mehta claims she was fired after raising fears about alleged tax avoidance methods at Netflix.

The organization issued a statement final year contacting Mehta’s allegations with out merit and asserting that she was fired for inappropriate bills.

In November, a California state courtroom choose ordered Mehta to shore up her harassment and emotional distress promises in opposition to Josephine Choy and David “Ben” McClean, a pair of Netflix attorneys who are co-defendants in the circumstance.