LA Opera names whitewash lawyer for Domingo case

LA Opera names whitewash lawyer for Domingo case

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norman lebrecht

August 21, 2019

The attorney who will investigate anonymous sexual harassment allegations against Placido Domingo has been named.

She is Debra Wong Yang of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Her career triumph today has been helping to clear Governor Chris Christie in the so-called Bridgegate scandal.

 

 

 

Comments

  • drummerman says:

    It looks like she’s had a lot of “career triumphs,” Norman

    https://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyer/yang-debra-wong/

    Why be so dismissive?

    • steven holloway says:

      Looking at the header, I was thinking more libelous than dismissive. Perhaps our host grows nostalgic for the days when he got the knickers sued off him.

    • Caravaggio says:

      This says all we need to know: “Ms. Yang is Chair of the Crisis Management Practice Group”. And there you have it folks: Crisis management: Obfuscation and spin.

  • Mark says:

    That’s a bit unfair. Her background is highly impressive.Yang is a chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations practice group at one of the top law firms in the US. Attorneys are ethically obligated to serve their client, popular or not. Regardless, it has to be remembered that internal investigations are generally designed to serve the interests of the person paying the attorney’s bill.

  • Cubs Fan says:

    “Her career triumph today…” maybe should read “Her career triumph to date…”?

  • 32VA says:

    ‘Anonymous allegations’.

    Arthur Miller would have staged this perfectly.

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      That has been my point from Day 1. Interesting that when progressives start to control the agenda they revert to the kinds of behaviours they so loathed from the days of serfdom; only now they think their own behaviour is impeccable. The more things change the more they remain the same.

    • Ed in but not of Texas says:

      I think Lillian Hellman already has. See “The Children’s Hour.”

  • M McAlpine says:

    So what evidence have you that it will be a ‘whitewash’? Somewhat of a prejudgment surely?

  • guest says:

    One Wong doesn’t make a white (wash).

  • Vaquero357 says:

    OK but…. If you want to do an investigation, wouldn’t it be better to hire a retired police detective or FBI agent?

    • Steve says:

      Lawyers are hired to lead an investigation in order that the results are subject to lawyer/client privilege. Lawyers can retain a private investigator to assist if need be and still maintain the lawyer/client privilege.

  • Dennis says:

    As far as I’m aware there are no pending criminal charges or civil suits against Domingo. I see nothing to even “investigate.” Is every anonymous claim in tabloid media now to be followed by a lawyer hired to “investigate” (which is not actually an attorney’s job. Hire a PI or allow criminal investigators to do their job if you think a crime has been committed)?

    • Z says:

      It has been said many times in the comment section of this website. Of course there is no criminal charge. Not every infringement is a criminal case, but that does not mean we can just let it pass and ignore it. So which part of that don’t you understand?

    • Bruce says:

      My guess as a non-lawyer is that her job is not to find out if anything really happened, but to find out if the accusations will meet whatever legal standard they must meet to stand up in a court of law. In other words, “could there be trouble for LA Opera if they decided to sue?” The accusations must have looked credible enough to someone to make this step seem worth taking.

      As I recall, that’s how they did it with Preucil and the trombone guy in the Cleveland Orchestra case; the answer was “yes,” so they got rid of the guys and settled.

    • Saxon Broken says:

      Another person who does not understand the difference between a criminal offence and “breach-of contract”. The investigation is to see whether Domingo’s behaviour amounts to grounds for dismissal. He really does not need to have done something criminal for there to be grounds for dismissal.

  • Tiredofital says:

    The fact that Ms. Wong could get Chris Christie cleared means that Domingo will certainly be fine, regardless of what people think. No one in New Jersey or New York thought Christie was innocent of wrongdoing. His willing henchmen took the fall for that disgusting politician.

  • Greg Bottini says:

    I say again….
    Why is Norman so fiercely defending Placido on this blog?
    The hatchet job was swiftly done to Levine, Dutoit, and Gatti.
    Why not Placido?
    What’s up with that?

    • norman lebrecht says:

      Because it is the duty of free men and women to defend our fellow-humans against anonymous accusations. The alternative is Salem, or Stalinism.

      • Emil says:

        Oh Come On. You’ve got to be joking
        And by the way, the fact that allegations are anonymous to you does not mean they are anonymous to the journalist. You have got to know that.

      • Greg Bottini says:

        My question still stands. Why do you stand up for Domingo and not for Dutoit, Gatti or Levine?
        “Because it is the duty of free men and women to defend our fellow-humans against anonymous accusations. The alternative is Salem, or Stalinism.”
        With all due respect, Norman – what’s that again? There were plenty of anonymous (but anonymous only to you and me and the general public) accusers against Dutoit, Gatti and Levine as well.
        Just because you and I do not know the names of the accusers certainly does not mean that those who are actually involved in these cases (lawyers, judges, investigators, and the like) don’t.
        ALL those names are known to those actually involved.
        They are only anonymous to you and me and the general public.
        I myself think that it is the duty of free men and women to defend our fellow-humans against SPURIOUS accusations.
        Those eight well-chronicled accusations against Domingo are far from spurious.

      • Greg Bottini says:

        Norman, I certainly don’t want to pick any fights with you. We don’t see eye-to-eye regarding Domingo; that’s just the way it is.
        From now on, I will refrain from commenting on any of these sex-abuse scandal posts, and stick to commenting on the posts relating to musical matters.
        As we used to say in the schoolyard: “PAX!”

    • M2N2K says:

      Because this case is different than those others – it is much weaker.

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