Hot Day in the Valley GC Market

Or, as Robert Major, a longtime GC recruiter with Major, Lindsey & Africa, put it: “The people that he works for are both known to be very demanding and have very high standards.”

Rosenberg’s move to Qualcomm also makes sense, said Spencer Hosie of Hosie McArthur, who is representing Burst.com in ongoing patent litigation against Apple.

“He was GC at IBM where patents were a wonderful thing and a great source of revenue,” said Hosie. “At Apple, patents are at best a nuisance, and at worst a real impediment to the company to move forward with its iPod platform � and I suspect that’s why he went where he went.”

Apple did not respond to questions about why Rosenberg left the company.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Judging by Rosenberg’s stock package at Apple, Qualcomm likely had to shell out to obtain his services. Shortly after Rosenberg joined the iPod maker, the company awarded him 200,000 shares of restricted stock, according to SEC filings.

Based on where the stock was trading on Friday afternoon, that grant is worth roughly $30.6 million. However, none of the stock has vested; Rosenberg had to be at the company until at least Dec. 1, the one-year anniversary of the stock grant, in order to get the first 25 percent of the stock.

Rosenberg had worked for IBM for more than 30 years before joining Apple, holding various positions in the legal department there.

Cooperman has done well at Oracle, too: Cooperman joined three other Oracle executives in cashing out shares and options last week, days after the company announced continued strong financial results. Cooperman cashed in over 225,000 options last Tuesday and Wednesday, netting him a profit of nearly $3 million, public filings show. That’s on top of roughly $2.7 million in profit Cooperman made from options he cashed out earlier in the year.

Cooperman joined Oracle in 1997 from what is now Bingham McCutchen, where he was managing partner of the firm’s San Jose office.

Oracle’s new GC, Daley, was an associate at Landels, Ripley & Diamond for five years before joining the company in the commercial and IP litigation group as corporate counsel in 1992. In 2001, Daley took over the commercial and IP litigation group, becoming associate general counsel and later, vice president.

LEGAL CHALLENGES AHEAD

Both Rosenberg and Cooperman are headed to companies where they’ll have more than their fair share of legal action.

Qualcomm is engaged in a broad array of litigation against rival Broadcom Corp., along with other companies. The company’s longtime General Counsel Louis Lupin departed in August for “personal” reasons. Former San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam was named as Lupin’s interim replacement.