Apple Inc. has appointed Scott Tucker, a longtime Meta Platforms Inc. executive, as its new vice president of global litigation and financial services. According to reports from Bloomberg, Tucker will oversee commercial and patent litigation worldwide and legal matters involving Apple's financial services. The move reunites Tucker with new Apple General Counsel Jennifer Newstead, who is bringing on a trusted lieutenant from her time at the social networking giant. The appointment is part of a reorganization of the company's legal team under General Counsel Jennifer Newstead, as the iPhone maker faces mounting legal challenges.
The appointment means Heather Grenier, Apple's current vice president of commercial and competition litigation, will move one level lower in the organization, reporting to Tucker instead of directly to Newstead. As reported by Bloomberg, Grenier will still remain on Newstead's legal leadership team. Additionally, Kyle Andeer, another senior member of Apple's legal department, is seeing his role expand to gain oversight of international legal matters, online child safety, cybersecurity and law enforcement functions, in addition to his regulatory and product-related work. Apple and Meta declined to comment on the changes.
Tucker brings relevant experience to his new role, having previously held a senior legal position at Morgan Stanley in addition to his tenure at Meta. According to Bloomberg, Newstead took over as Apple's general counsel in March after serving as Meta's top lawyer for six years. Before Meta, she held senior roles at the U.S. State Department, White House, and Justice Department. The changes are part of a broader reorganization under Newstead, who oversees legal and government affairs, with Apple recently hiring Nate Gatten, a former American Airlines Group Inc. executive, as its vice president of government affairs.
Apple is currently facing multiple legal battles, including a sweeping US antitrust lawsuit, its long-running dispute with Epic Games Inc. over App Store restrictions, and litigation related to privacy and delays to Siri features. As reported by Bloomberg, the company is also pursuing a trade secrets case against OpenAI, which recently agreed not to use information Apple alleges was stolen while that lawsuit proceeds. The legal team's workload includes these major cases, with some Apple executives believing the company hasn't fared as well in court as it should have, particularly in litigation involving the App Store. The company is currently pursuing several expensive patent lawsuits simultaneously, including the Taptic Engine dispute where a jury awarded the plaintiff $5.7 billion, a verdict Apple is now appealing, and the Masimo case where Apple must pay an additional $184 million in interest on top of damages awards.
The legal setbacks have forced Apple to change its commission structure and the circumstances under which it can charge developers, threatening to significantly slow growth in Apple's services business, a key driver of revenue expansion in recent years. According to Bloomberg, a slowdown in that business would deal a major blow to the company's overall financial performance. Even in the best of times, overseeing Apple's litigation is challenging, as the Cupertino-based company is among the most frequently sued businesses in the world, facing cases ranging from slip-and-fall claims at its retail stores to multibillion-dollar antitrust disputes.
