Amid the biggest legal crisis to rock the corporate world, News Corp serves as a valuable lesson for all companies on such critical issues as director independence, reputational preservation, and responsible corporate officer liability, among others.

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Mr. Kopel is research director of the Independence Institute and co-author of the law school textbook, "Firearms Law and the Second Amendment" (Aspen, 2012).

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"Independence Day" was finished in record time for a director with an almost obsessive attention to detail and a predilection for lavish, time-consuming special effects.

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"Board independence is a complete nonissue, " says Amy Lancellotta, managing director of the Independent Directors Council, an offshoot of the ICI.

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But the fact that the winning bid was led by the Prison Service's own deputy director-general underlines the need for both greater openness and independence in the decision process.

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"Now that DoubleClick has lost its independence, it's an uncomfortable feeling, " says Andy Mitchell, managing director of AdLINK, a British online advertising network that has used DoubleClick's ad service.

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She said the IPCC was discussing setting up a "challenge group" of independent people who can scrutinise the work of both the IPCC and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to keep the families updated about the progress, independence and robustness of the work.

BBC: Hillsborough inquests date set for next week