Apple's chief counsel profiled as 'field marshal' in fight against Android

Noreen Krall, Apple's chief litigation counsel, is the subject of a new feature that profiles her as the most important member of Apple's team in its patent battles against devices running Google's Android operating system.

The 47-year-old Krall was declared Apple's "field marshal" in the company's "thermonuclear war" against Android in a profile published on Monday by Bloomberg. Apple's pledge to go to war against Android was first stated by late company co-founder Steve Jobs in interviews with his biographer, Walter Isaacson.

That war saw its largest battle decided in favor of Apple last month, when a California jury found that Samsung had infringed on patents related to the iPhone. Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages for Samsung's infringement, though the company has appealed.

Noreen Krall, via Twitter.

Before the jury even ruled in that case, Krall sent a note to junior members of her team to thank them for their hard work. She and Apple's general counsel, Bruce Sewell, have built the legal team that has pursued and defended against patent infringement claims with Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Nokia and more.

Krall first came to Apple from Sun Microsystems in March of 2010, the same month that Apple filed its first patent infringement lawsuit against HTC, accusing the rival handset maker of violating 20 iPhone-related patents. The hiring of Krall marked the start of a patent litigation push that has seen dozens of lawsuits filed against numerous handset makers around the world.

Apple has since made steps to further bolster its legal team, hiring key litigation counsel members in a "hiring spree" that led to B.J. Watrous taking over as Apple's chief intellectual property counsel.