News Corporation has appointed Gerson Zweifach, a partner at Williams & Connolly, to group general counsel, effective Feb. 1. Zweifach will become a senior executive vice president and will report to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch.

In his more than three decades at Williams & Connolly, Zweifach's litigation practice has covered a wide variety of substantive areas including significant media and first amendment cases, as well as patent, antitrust and securities matters. He has handled a number of high profile cases as both plaintiff's and defendant's counsel in courts throughout the U.S., including representing Richard Grasso in Spitzer v. Grasso in the New York state courts.