Apple litigation leadership gets ex-Meta litigator Scott Tucker

Tucker’s job covers Apple’s commercial and patent cases around the world, plus the legal side of its financial products.

His background fits that mix. He joined Meta in 2021 as vice president and deputy general counsel for global litigation, and before that held a senior legal post at Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street bank. That finance experience is the obvious reason the role pairs litigation with financial services.

Neither Apple nor Meta would comment on the hire, so for now the details come from the report rather than an official announcement. The move gives Newstead a familiar face from her years at Meta as she reshapes the department.

Tucker will report to Jennifer Newstead, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel. The two worked together at Meta, where Newstead was chief legal officer for six years before taking over Apple’s legal team in March. Earlier in her career she held senior jobs at the State Department, the White House and the Justice Department.

The hire moves other people around too:

• Heather Grenier, Apple’s vice president of commercial and competition litigation, will now report to Tucker instead of directly to Newstead, though she stays on Newstead’s leadership team. Grenier took her role just before Apple’s 2021 trial against Epic Games, and has since seen two big changes above her: Ternus taking over as CEO and Newstead’s own arrival.
• Kyle Andeer, the longtime vice president who handles regulatory and product legal matters, gets a bigger brief: international legal issues, plus online child safety, cybersecurity and work with law enforcement.

The short version: Apple has been losing too much in court for some executives’ liking. Some insiders feel the company should have done better, especially in App Store cases, according to the report.

Those losses have a price. The rulings that changed Apple’s commission rules threaten to slow its services business, which has been one of its biggest sources of growth in recent years. Apple has also paid out billions of dollars in judgments and settlements, while regulators in the US and Europe keep challenging how it runs the iPhone.

The Tucker hire is one piece of a bigger shake-up under Newstead, who now runs both legal and government affairs. Apple merged those groups after the retirements of Kate Adams, its former top lawyer, and Lisa Jackson, who led environment, policy and social initiatives. In late August it brought in Nate Gatten, a former American Airlines executive, as vice president of government affairs, and it has named new government affairs leads for different regions. Tim Cook, now executive chairman, still plays a leading role in dealing with governments.

It also fits a wider wave of change since John Ternus became CEO, with new leaders for the App Store, events, information security and real estate, a new mergers chief, a hardware engineering reorganization and the exit of the longtime Apple Pay boss.

Tucker arrives to a heavy docket. The biggest items include:

• The long-running Epic Games fight over App Store rules and payment links.
• The US government’s sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
• Privacy lawsuits.
• Claims over Siri features that arrived late, which Apple agreed to settle for $250 million. A court hearing on final approval is due in February 2027.
• Apple’s own trade secrets suit against OpenAI, which has agreed not to use information Apple says was stolen while the case goes on.

Apple is also one of the most frequently sued companies anywhere, with cases running from small customer injury claims at stores to antitrust disputes worth billions.

Nothing changes on your phone tomorrow. A new litigation chief doesn’t alter prices, features or App Store rules on day one.

Over time, though, the outcomes matter. The Epic and antitrust cases decide how much freedom developers have to steer you to cheaper payment options outside the App Store, and how much Apple can charge them. If you bought an iPhone expecting Siri features that arrived late, the $250 million settlement is the case to watch, with its approval hearing in February 2027. Tucker’s team will also handle legal matters tied to Apple’s financial offerings.