Bruce Sewell Retires, Katherine Adams Joins Apple as New General Counsel

Apple has announced the Bruce Sewell, who has served as the company's general counsel since 2009, will be retiring at the end of the year and Katharine Adams will join as its new general counsel and SVP of Legal and Global Security. Adams was formerly senior vice president and general counsel of Honeywell.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kate to our team. She’s a seasoned leader with outstanding judgment and that has worked on a wide variety of legal cases globally. Throughout her career she’s also been an advocate on many of the values we at Apple hold dear,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“Bruce has our best wishes for his retirement, after eight years of dedicated service to Apple and a tremendously successful career. He has tirelessly defended our IP, our customers’ right to privacy and our values. Bruce has set a new standard for general counsels, and I am proud to have worked with him and proud to call him a friend.”




“Apple has had a tremendous impact on the world and it’s an honor to join their team,” said Kate Adams. “I’m excited to help Apple continue to grow and evolve around the world, protecting their ideas and IP, and defending our shared values.”

“To have worked with this amazing executive team and all the incredibly smart people at Apple, especially my colleagues in legal and global security, has been the honor of a lifetime,” said Bruce Sewell. “The years I have spent in this job have been the most gratifying of my career. I’m delighted Kate is joining and I know she will be a huge asset.”

Before joining Honeywell in 2003, Adams was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP in New York. Earlier in her career, she served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; as trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice, Appellate Section, Environment and Natural Resources division; and as law clerk for Stephen Breyer, then chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Adams earned a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.