That guy is Seth Krauss, the less-public and certainly-not-recommended-for-disbarment other half of litigation involving Grand Theft Auto and Take Two. He's the general counsel for Take Two, and Gamepolitics ran across a profile of him in The National Law Journal. While it's not stocked with amazing conference room screengrabs or a discussion of next-gen subpoena-quashing physics, it does reveal some interesting tidbits about Take Two's legal muscle.
Whatever you think of the law or those who practice it, this guy's out there lawyerin' and lobbyin' for your rights to play - well, Take Two games, at least.
According to the profile, Krauss came on board when Strauss Zelnick took control in 2002. Other fun facts:
• When Krauss took over as general counsel, Take Two had only two in-house attorneys. In the six years since, they're up to 15, handling the company's never-ending concerns with intellectual property and First Amendment cases.
• Even after beating a case he still finds it has strong replay value. "Take-Two operates in 20 different jurisdictions, so every legal issue 'has to be replayed over and over again,'" the profile says. These include global jurisdictions, of course, but surely they also cover some U.S. state-level cases. Some lobbying is a part of his duties, Krauss says.
• Quoting the profile: "Take-Two has had to defend itself against those who consider this form of entertainment scary and dangerous. Krauss works with his counterparts at other game companies and other allies to meet criticism by politicians and critics "who try to politicize the video game industry."
• Krauss' dad was a Broadway producer; he considers his job "a happy and welcome return to working with creative people." He's a Duke undergrad and Washington University J.D. Krauss also worked for the Manhattan D.A., where he probed the financial institutions implicated in Enron's collapse.
Start Game [Law.com, via Gamepolitics]