Apple hires major label legal talent for iTunes

Apple has lured Warner Music Group’s head of digital legal affairs, Elliot Peters, to leave the music label to join Apple’s iTunes team.

Based in Luxembourg, Peters will become Apple’s corporate attorney director for iTunes Europe and Internet services, Billboard reports. His job will be to manage the European legal team for iTunes and MobileMe service.

Billboard has published a memo from Warner Music Group’s General Counsel, Paul Robinson, in which he writes:

“In 2000, Elliott left Shearman & Sterling to take on an M&A role in our legal department where he worked on a number of important corporate transactions regarding Columbia House Music and Video Clubs, Word Entertainment and Warner Bros. Publications. In 2003, Elliott became our first digital lawyer and began to build our exceptional Digital Legal Affairs team, now comprised of Jon Glass, Virginia Lockhart and Tucker McCrady. Since that time, Elliott has had a hand in almost every major WMG digital deal.”