Tony West, chief legal officer of Uber Technologies (Pic by David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Chief Legal Officer at Uber, Tony West, is taking unpaid leave from the company, effective August 17. The company announced his plans to “volunteer on a political campaign in his personal capacity.” Which isn’t surprising since his sister-in-law is Democratic nominee for president, Kamala Harris.
According to reports, in an internal email West wrote, “While I love my job, my team, and the positive impact Uber has on the world, I have always believed family comes first.” He continued, “So I’ve decided to dedicate myself full-time to supporting my family and my sister-in-law on the campaign trail.”
West has been married to Kamala Harris’s sister, Maya, for 26 years. As such, his role on the campaign will be “family-member surrogate, one who can speak about the vice president from the perspective of someone who’s known her for decades.”
West also worked on Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign. As reported by Axios, he’s taken on a “prominent role” in the 2024 effort.
In the first weeks since Harris became the likely nominee, West has frequently been at her side and is a point person in communicating with the campaign’s leadership.
His roles at Uber will be chief deputy general counsel Katie Waitzman and deputy corporate secretary Elizabeth Coleman.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].