If Penn State had had general counsel in the early stages of the Sandusky scandal, would the scandal have played out differently? A number of commentators are beginning to think about the question. In "The Toothless Accountability Systems Behind the Penn State Scandal," Ellen Dannin writes:
It is hard to believe, but Penn State had no General Counsel's office until 2010. Instead, it contracted out most of its legal work to McQuaide Blasko, a law firm in Centre County, Pennsylvania. That outside legal counsel had a serious conflict of interest in the case of Jerry Sandusky, because it was also legal counsel for Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile and sat on its Board.
When a General Counsel's office was established in 2010, it was led by Cynthia Baldwin, a former state Supreme Court justice. It had only two attorneys at University Park and two at Penn State Hershey. The university website does not make it easy to identify the attorneys in the GC's office, but the linked in account of one shows only some experience in corporate law practice and litigation groups at a Pittsburgh law firm and a clerkship for Justice Baldwin. The Freeh report notes, "Baldwin did not seek assistance or advice from an attorney experienced in criminal investigations or conducting internal investigations."
Having only two attorneys at University Park and two at Penn State Hershey meant that the office was severely understaffed and lacked the wide range of expertise necessary to provide competent advice. In addition, four attorneys is far too few for such a large organization with campuses throughout the state. Penn State's General Counsel is responsible for overseeing all legal affairs of the University, including the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine located in Hershey, Pa., the main campus at University Park, 19 campuses across the Commonwealth, and the online World Campus. Not only is the office understaffed, it is unclear how many of the staff have experience working in the general counsel's office of a major university.
David Mackey comes down in the same place in the Boston Business commentary "Sandusky child rape scandal at Penn State could have been avoided if university had proper legal counsel on compliance issues."
