Who is Karen Dunn, the lawyer trusted by Kamala Harris and Google

The US government is fighting a high-stakes legal battle against Google, which may result in the break-up of the tech giant to keep it from further monopolising internet advertising.

But the close ties of Vice President Kamala Harris with big tech have given rise to suspicions that Google may just walk away with a mere slap on the wrist if she gets elected to the White House in November.

The person at the centre of these suspicions is Karen Dunn, the lead attorney representing Google in an epoch-defining antitrust case against the US Department of Justice.

September 9 was the first day of the trial in which the US government is seeking to hold Google accountable for using its dominant position on the internet to kill off all kinds of competition.

But soon after making her opening statement on Monday during the maiden hearing, Dunn stepped out of the Virginia courtroom in a hurry.

Her rushed exit from a high-profile hearing, which would otherwise be considered a highlight in the career of any anti-trust lawyer, was to volunteer her time to the Harris campaign.

She is preparing the current vice president for the upcoming televised debate with former President Donald Trump.

Besides being a long-time lawyer for major tech companies like Google, Uber, Apple and Amazon, Dunn serves as an outside adviser for Harris. She has helped prepare Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates for debates in every election cycle since 2008.

The Trump campaign has called the close association of Google’s attorney in the anti-trust case against the Department of Justice—part of the Biden-Harris administration—with the Harris campaign an “obvious conflict of interest”.

“Kamala Harris will never stand up to big tech because she’s being coached on what to say in the debates by Google’s top lawyer,” Trump campaign senior adviser Tim Murtaugh told Fox News.

“Think about how outrageous it is—their administration is suing Google, but Harris is taking political advice from the defendant’s lawyer.”

The presence of tech-friendly advisers in Harris’s close circle can potentially lead to behind-the-scenes leniency for Google and other big tech firms. After all, the US Department of Justice is part of the executive branch, which means the president gets to appoint its head and other key functionaries.

“Karen Dunn is being paid extravagantly by Google to get it off the hook—ideally through a slap-on-the-wrist settlement—so it’s concerning that she has so much access to Vice President Harris,” a news report quoted a commentator as saying.

Big tech-friendly advisers

Dunn is not the only big tech-friendly lawyer among Harris’s confidantes. The vice president’s brother-in-law, Tony West, serves as the chief legal officer at Uber, another Silicon Valley giant.

West is also part of the team that’s helping Harris prepare for the presidential debate.

Another big-tech ally in the Harris team is Eric Holder who, as attorney general in Barack Obama’s administration, allegedly blocked a Department of Justice investigation into Google for monopolising the search function on the internet.

News outlet Axios reported that both West and Holder are up for cabinet positions in case of a Harris victory at the ballot box.

In fact, Harris is considering West for the top position at the Department of Justice, which has been a thorn in the side of big tech as the main enforcer of anti-trust laws.

The ongoing case against Google, which may result in the forced break-up of the world’s fourth biggest company, is the second anti-trust case against the tech giant in recent months.

The first one produced a judgment that held Google responsible for illegally monopolising the online search market by striking exclusive deals with phone makers.

A win in the second case against Google will result in the biggest court-ordered breakup of an American company in 40 years, restoring competition in a field where Google enjoys almost unchallenged price-setting clout.

It was during the administration of Trump (2017-21) that the Department of Justice brought the anti-trust case against Google’s search monopoly.

The former president has repeatedly criticised Google as well as other tech giants like Facebook for harbouring bias against him and thwarting his re-election prospects.