Defense of HP's Dunn

Fortune examines a defense of Hewlett-Packard Chair Patricia Dunn.

The lawyers, of course, are included in the blame. (It's the first time I've heard "not generally unlawful" as a positive phrase.)

Another factor is mentioned:

But the other explanation is more awkward for anyone to discuss, and as a result has been missed in almost all the coverage of this affair - even most of her supporters won't address it. It seems that Dunn is very sick. As David Kaplan in Newsweek revealed in his story Monday, even after having had breast cancer in 2000 and melanoma in 2002, Dunn was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2004 and underwent extensive surgery last month after doctors discovered a malignant tumor in her liver.

Think about that timing. It would have quite possibly been late July or early August when Dunn was preparing to go into the hospital for major liver surgery. The letters between Sonsini and Perkins in which the latter demanded the board investigate the practice of "pretexting", or impersonating someone in order to get their phone records, were exchanged during July. It wasn't until July 28 that Perkins wrote his most concrete and accusative letter, which he addressed to the entire board (for the first time) and which included the following well-crafted and persuasive sentence: "That the illegal pretext was done by a consultant is no excuse or defense to HP, which authorized, induced, and benefited from the illegal fraud."