NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FOX News announced today the appointment of Lily Fu Claffee to General Counsel, effective Monday, May 7th. She will be based in New York. Dianne Brandi, Executive Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs, will remain on voluntary personal leave.
In making the announcement, FOX News Co-President Jack Abernethy said, “Lily has a distinguished legal career in both the private sector and in public service. We are pleased to add her extensive experience to our legal affairs team.”
Claffee added, “I look forward to embarking on this new and exciting role at an iconic network like FOX News, especially as the media landscape continues to undergo historic growth and change.”
Most recently, Claffee was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce since 2010. In this position, Claffee oversaw legal operations and was the principal legal adviser to the Chamber’s President & CEO Thomas J. Donohue. Responsible for all corporate, governance, compliance and litigation matters for the organization’s 450 policy specialists, media professionals, lobbyists, and lawyers, she was also the Executive Vice President of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, a separately incorporated public policy litigation affiliate.
During her tenure there, Claffee also served as the General Counsel of the U.S. Chamber Foundation, the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the Madison County Record/Legal NewsLine newspapers, among other corporate affiliates. In this role, she managed all legal issues, including defamation, intellectual property, and constitutional matters.
Prior to the Chamber, Claffee was a partner at Jones Day’s government regulation group in Washington, D.C. There, she represented corporate clients in the federal executive branch facing litigation, administrative, and investigatory matters and handled civil enforcement, as well as a variety of regulatory issues.
Before Jones Day, Claffee was the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce from 2008 to 2009. As a presidential appointee, she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate as the agency’s head legal officer and served as the chief legal adviser to then Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and key high-ranking agency officials.
From 2006 to 2008, Claffee was the Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Treasury, which she joined at the inception of then Secretary Henry Paulson Jr.’s executive team. While at the Treasury Department, she oversaw its legal functions, managed federal court litigation and provided policy and ethics counsel to senior agency officials with a special focus on financial markets. Under Secretary Paulson, she was an early architect of new government role in addressing systemic risks to the financial system.
Prior to her stint there, Claffee worked as the Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2005 to 2006. She was selected by Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum to serve as a senior executive in the agency’s third ranking leadership office. There, she provided legal policy direction and oversight for the agency’s civil litigating components, including the Antitrust and Civil divisions. She began her law career in private practice at Mayer Brown in Chicago and went on to become a partner at the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.
A recipient of the Treasury Medal for distinguished service, Claffee holds her Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School, where she was the Managing Editor of the Minnesota Law Review. Upon graduating law school cum laude, she clerked for Judge Michael S. Kanne who continues to preside over the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Claffee earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin.
About FOX News
FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in cable, FNC has been the most watched television news channel for more than 16 years and according to a Gallup/Knight Foundation Survey, is the most objective information source in the country. Owned by 21st Century Fox, FNC is available in more than 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.
