DAY 91: Willard on PM-USA’s YSP Program
April 12, 2005 12:23 pm by Gene BorioApr 12, 2005, 1:25 PM
HOWARD A. WILLARD III, the Senior Vice President, Youth Smoking Prevention and Corporate Responsibility at Philip Morris USA, took the stand after the morning break, and faced harsh questioning on how serious PM was about his department.
–PM has stocked the department with people–including top management and he himself–who came from within Altria’s companies and who had no expertise in youth smoking prevention;
–PM did not tie his performance numerically to youth smoking rates;
–PM even paid him far less than a fellow of the Senior Team–the Senior VP of Marketing.
Before being tapped for the YSP job in 2002, he had held a wide variety of positions at PM, from finance to IT to sales to manufacturing oversight, and various combinations thereof. DOJ attorney Renee Brooker made the point that his experience did not indicate any special expertise in YSP. Mr. Willard said no, he had had YSP experience in his various VP of sales positions–dealing with youth access prevention programs.
Ms. Brooker noted his 2004 base salary of $338,000. She made the point his long-term incentive award (c. $455,000 for 2001-2003) is not tied to any specific numeric YSP targets, ie, it’s not tied to, say, reducing the market share of Marlboro amongst underage smokers.
Ms. Brooker noted that another member of the Senior Team, Nancy Lund–Sr. VP of Marketing–makes significantly more than he. Mr. Willard stated that such wage disclosures are usually not made public amongst employees.
Ms. Brooker pointed out that at least 11 of the senior-most people in the YSP department came from within the Altria companies. She indicated that, once offered such a job, an employee seldom if ever refused it–almost as if they had no real choice in the matter.. Certainly Mr. Willard did not refuse when tapped by CEO Michael Szymanczyk.
Mr. Willard said senior-level job choices were fairly well researched in light of an employee’s talents, interests and long-term goals.
Before lunch, Ms. Brooker had determined that Mr. Willard had spent about 198 hours with a number of lawyers in preparation for his 1-day deposition and his testimony today.
Mr. WIllard is in his early 40s, and may not be taller than Mr. Szymanczyk, but he certainly looks it. He sits taller in the witness stand, is leaner and younger with a narrower face. He has dark hair, a somewhat handsome face, and a sober, serious mein. He said all those 198 hours of lawyer-training had left him feeling fairly comfortable with testifying. He looked it.
April 12th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
Apropos enjoying the company of lawyers. At least the catered lunches were terrific. One hundred ninety eight hours of lawyer time, and I bet there were more than one present (in the room) or behind the glass.
Prep time: 25 8-hour days. $99,000 per lawyer (198 hrs.@ $500/hr)
Sounds about right to prep a novice.
The tobacco industry paid K. Ludmerer $200,000 to prepare for the Cipollone case, and another $100,000 for additional work preceding Mississippi v AMTCO et al. He actually had to do some historical compilation (or his students) AND learn what to say.
April 12th, 2005 at 8:16 pm
The figure was calculated by Judge Kessler, who corrected Ms. Brooker’s on-the-fly figure, and it was based on 22 8-9-hour days in 2 periods, one pre-deposition, and one pre-today’s testimony.
Each time there was a core group of 4-5 lawyers, plus 3 or so others “in and out.”
So by your figures, I’d say 700gs is a good total.
April 13th, 2005 at 3:38 pm
Interesting. Can DoJ afford to prepare its witnesses to this extent?
And at what point does preparation become coaching?
Then: 770gs is just for this case. How many other cases has Willard been in? How much preparation for each of them? And tobacco industry executives are also given “preparation” for tobacco litigation well before they’re involved in any. How much total has been spent preparing Willard?
And at what point does counsel become consiglioro?
http://www.tobacco.org/News/waiting.html