Apple Taps Meta Lawyer As General Counsel In Latest Shake-Up

Apple Inc. hired Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead as its general counsel, part of a wave of executive changes at the iPhone maker.

Newstead will take the job on March 1 after her duties are transferred from current General Counsel Kate Adams, Apple said in a statement Thursday. In a separate move, governmental affairs executive Lisa Jackson will retire in late January. She has overseen environment, policy and social initiatives at the company.

The latest reshuffle follows the departure last month of Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, long the No. 2 to Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. Apple design executive Alan Dye also is set to depart for Meta, where he’ll help work on that company’s hardware devices. 

Newstead’s hire marks a rare case where Apple is poaching from Meta, rather than the other way around. A former advisor to the US State Department, she joined Meta — then Facebook — in 2019.

The executive is coming off a major legal win at Meta, which defeated Federal Trade Commission claims that it violated antitrust law. That case centered on the acquisitions of photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp.

In a memo to Meta employees announcing her departure, Newstead cited the FTC case among the milestones in her seven-year career at the company. “I believed in our mission and wanted to help the company navigate an important set of changes in the legal and regulatory landscape,” she wrote.

The Apple job was a unique opportunity to “continue shaping legal and policy issues around the world,” Newstead added.

Apple is facing its own antitrust challenges. The US Justice Department and 16 attorneys general filed a suit in March 2024 alleging that the company’s policies hamper competition and make it difficult for consumers to switch phones. A trial date hasn’t yet been set for that case.

With Jackson’s departure, the government affairs duties will be transferred to Newstead, who will become a senior vice president. The environment and social initiatives teams, meanwhile, will report to Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan.

Jackson, a former administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency, was hired in 2013. 

In Thursday’s statement, Cook credited Jackson with helping Apple reduce its greenhouse emissions by more than 60% in the last decade.