Top Apple Lawyer Leaves Company

Apple Computer confirmed on Monday that general counsel Nancy Heinen is no longer with the company, but declined to say how or when she left. She had the distinction of being the highest ranking female executive in the company.

Company spokesman Steve Dowling stated "Nancy Heinen is no longer an Apple employee. Weive already begun the search for a (new) general counsel."

According to ZDNet, chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer will temporarily oversee the legal department while a new head lawyer is selected.

Other Apple executives have left the company recently, as well. The head of the iPod division, Jon Rubenstein, retired only to be contracted by Apple as a consultant. Avie Tevanian, Appleis chief software technology officer, left the company, and is now on the board of directors for Tellme Networks.