Activision Blizzard Hires Law Firm Known for Sinking Unionization Attempts
Recent reports claim that Activision Blizzard has partnered with law firm WilmerHale. This is a well-known and prestigious firm, but also controversial - its services are used by Amazon, among others.
It might seem that after the statement of Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, the emotions around the company will subside. Kotick admitted that the initial reaction of the executives was wrong, and promised changes in the staff and recruitment system. We don't know how much of this is sincere resolve to improve, and how much is damage control, but Activision Blizzard's latest collaboration shows that the company's recent actions have been somewhat chaotic. That's what you'd call the establishment of cooperation with a well-known law firm WilmerHale, whose services are used, among others, by Amazon. Lawyers of this office were hired to prevent the formation of trade unions in the corporation, governed until recently by Jeff Bezos.
In light of recent events that have taken place at the company, such a move can be interpreted as an attempt to stop the formation of labor unions at Activision. Considering the sexual harassment and mobbing scandal, which ended in a lawsuit, this move on the part of the studio's execs may give some food for thought. Trade unions in game dev in recent years are gaining strength, which is not entirely to the liking of corporations.
WilmerHale descends from two firms with long history, that have been providing legal services for years - Hale and Dorr (founded in 1918) and Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (founded in 1962). Both law firms have had many distinguished clients, including Presidents of the United States. Hale and Dorr represented the impeached President Nixon in 1974. In 2004 the firms merged, which resulted in the formation of the law firm WilmerHale.
Of interest at this institution is the figure of Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy U.S. attorney general. Gorelick has been working with the aforementioned law firm since 2003 and has served on Amazon's board of directors since 2012 (via Kotaku). WilmerHale was supposed to help the company's anti-union policies by conducting "briefings" with employees. A similar situation could occur at Activision Blizzard, where pro-union sentiment has taken a hit after recent events. And although on paper the law firm is supposed to provide only legal assistance and HR consulting, it is hard not to get the impression that this particular choice of cooperation is extremely unfortunate and may leave a lot of room for interpretation.
