Square Inc. appoints new general counsel following resignation

Square Inc., the San Francisco-based mobile credit card payment company, appointed Sivan G. Whiteley as its general counsel following the abrupt resignation of Hillary B. Smith.

“We are grateful to Hillary for her passion for our purpose and her many contributions to Square,” the company said in a statement to the Daily Journal on Friday in response to a request for an interview with Whiteley. “We are excited to appoint Sivan Whiteley, our longtime associate general counsel and an incredible leader, to the role of general counsel.”

According to Square’s Form 8-K filing informing investors of the news on Feb. 28, Smith notified the company of her intention to resign, effective March 18. Smith will remain an employee through September to provide support in the transition, during which time she will continue to be paid her current salary and receive benefits, including continued vesting of her equity awards in accordance with their terms.

Calls seeking comment from Square on the reason for Smith’s pending departure were not returned.

Smith was hired in November 2016 as Square’s general counsel, after a stint as general counsel for YourPeople Inc. also known as Zenefits, a cloud-based software company for human resource management. When she started in 2015, Zenefits was entrenched in a highly publicized legal battle with ADP Inc. over its access to the insurance giant’s computer systems.

Whiteley oversees Square’s legal, regulatory, compliance and security operations. She worked previously for Better Place, eBay Inc. and Bingham McCutchen LLP. Whiteley is a graduate of Harvard Law School.