Jane Horvath, a former senior director of global privacy at Apple appointed chief privacy officer in 2021, will leave the company this month to return to private practice. It was reported last year that she would become a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which has now announced her hire. At the same time, former Apple privacy and cybersecurity lawyer Vivek Mohan has joined Gibson Dunn as co-chair of their artificial intelligence and automated systems practice.
Two other in-house lawyers, Robert Windom and Susanne Geraghty, now run the company’s content and services law and commercial and international law teams, respectively. Alexander Caminas was promoted in October to senior director of products law, succeeding Joyce Chow, who retired the same month after three decades at Apple. Colette Reiner Mayer, a former Morrison & Foerster partner hired by Apple in late 2021 as their head of IP litigation, reports to the company’s Chief IP Counsel Jeffrey Myers. Heather Mewes, previously a Fenwick & West partner who has spent a decade at Apple, was made head of licensing and IP transactions in May to take over the role vacated by Sarita Venkat. Venkat left Apple to become a deputy general counsel for global litigation at Cisco Systems Inc. and a co-founder and co-host of the “Heels of Justice” podcast.
Since 2007, patent and IP-related disputes have made up roughly 40% of Apple’s caseload in US federal courts. The company employs an extensive roster of law firms—from Big Law giants to regional specialists—to serve its outside counsel needs in legal battles across various jurisdictions. On its online jobs page, Apple is looking to hire for more than a dozen positions within its legal team. Data shows they have brought on over 20 lawyers from Big Law within the past year. Notably, Kathryn “Katie” Tague, formerly of Apple’s media content and services team and with three years of experience at the company, left Apple last May to become general counsel for the XQ Institute. The Oakland, California-based nonprofit is backed by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and was formerly headed by Edward Garey and Mark Miller.
Katherine Adams, Apple Inc.'s General Counsel, received a $27.1 million pay package for fiscal 2022 - a modest uptick from the previous year - as the tech giant deals with multiple legal issues. Adams' salary comprised a $1 million cash payment and $22.1 million in stock awards, according to an annual proxy filing submitted on Thursday. In 2020 and 2019, she was paid $26 million and $25 million, respectively.
Recently, Adams structured the in-house legal team into two separate units - product & regulatory and corporate, commercial & compliance - to manage the mounting litigation load better. She was initially appointed as Apple's law department leader in 2017, after leaving her post at Honeywell International Inc., and has since been one of the top-earning legal chiefs amongst publicly traded US companies.
In-house counsels at Apple are bringing innovation and change to the company while continuing to build on its success in many areas. With continued growth, Apple is committed to building a team of experienced legal professionals to ensure their success for years to come.
REFERENCES:
Top Apple Lawyer Sees Slight Pay Boost as Legal Docket Grows
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/top-apple-lawyer-sees-slight-pay-boost-as-legal-docket-grows
