Michael Wyatt in 2000 left the legal department of Apple Inc., creating a much hyped and never again filled void in the whole setup, especially at a time when Apple was being bombarded with lawsuits left, right and centre and still is.With a large corporate affairs department dealing with numerous legal matters wherein Apple was and is involved and numerous legalities to be taken care of, it does not indeed come as a surprise that the Apple has finally decided to fill the huge void in its legal department luring Hewlett Packard’s top corporate lawyer to head up its own legal affairs.

Charles Charnas who was the deputy general counsel at HP, is said to be the first major acquisition by Daniel Cooperman who is the Apple’s new General Counsel. Charles Charnas job profile includes among various other matters, playing a lead role in the acquisitions and mergers of Apple Inc and takes care of the Intellectual Property Rights of the company as well, protecting it from infringement. He would be reporting to Daniel Cooperman and working under him. Charles Charnas has had an illustrious career as far as corporate lawyers of his elite class are concerned. He was elected Assistant Secretary at Hewlett Packard in 1999 and soon promoted to Vice President and then after Deputy General Counsel in a span of three years.

While working with Hewlett Packard, Charles Charnas was involved in mammoth deals like the $4.5 billion purchase of Mercury Interactive in 2006 and Hewlett Packard’s legal tussle to acquire Compaq for around $25 billion in 2001.