Apple is adding Scott Tucker, who has managed litigation at Meta for a long time, to its legal team. According to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, Tucker will undertake legal affairs regarding the company’s global litigation and financial services. Apple, which also has legal disputes with application developers, is creating a new vice president for this role. The appointment news is not based on a personnel announcement directly published by the company.
Tucker joined Meta in 2021, having previously held a senior legal role at Morgan Stanley. According to the details quoted by 9to5Mac from Bloomberg, the new position brings together commercial litigation and patent disputes around the world in the same area of responsibility. Legal affairs of financial services are also included in this scope.
According to the news, Heather Grenier, Apple’s vice president of commercial and antitrust litigation, will now report to Tucker. Grenier will retain his place on the legal management team. This detail suggests that the change is a realignment of the reporting structure rather than a complete departure of the current executive.
The same report also states that senior legal executive Kyle Andeer’s responsibilities have expanded. In addition to international legal issues, these topics include online child safety, cyber security and law enforcement issues. 9to5Mac’s report presents these changes as part of a broader restructuring of the legal team.
Jennifer Newstead co-manages legal and public relations
Tucker’s arrival will reunite Apple’s legal leader Jennifer Newstead with her former colleague. Apple’s current executive profile lists Newstead as senior vice president of legal and government affairs. Newstead reports directly to CEO John Ternus. His areas of responsibility include corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation, securities compliance, global security and privacy matters.
Newstead also came to Apple from Meta, where he served as legal leader for six years. He previously served as legal counsel at the US State Department and was a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell for 12 years. This history explains why his former working relationship at Meta comes to the fore in the new transfer news.
On the other hand, the change in the management team does not mean that Apple has achieved a certain result in its ongoing lawsuits. For example, the £2 billion lawsuit filed by application developers in the UK regarding the App Tracking Transparency system includes the parties’ claims and Apple’s defense against them. The new personnel news release does not disclose a court decision or settlement regarding this dispute.