Coinbase to bring on Facebook's deputy general counsel as Chief Legal Officer

Exchanges • July 8, 2020, 3:15PM EDT

Photo by Christie Hemm Klok for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Coinbase has snagged Facebook's deputy general counsel Paul Grewal as its new Chief Legal Officer.

Grewal fills the space left by Brian Brooks, the previous head of legal who left Coinbase this March to join the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—in May, Brooks become the acting comptroller after Joseph Otting stepped down.

Before arriving at Facebook in 2016, Grewal spent nearly six years as a U.S. magistrate judge in the Northern District of California, where he adjudicated a number of cases involving big tech companies. Coinbase touted his work on Apple v. Samsung and Oracle v. Google in Wednesday's announcement.

About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to akeely@theblock.co or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.