Who

Cappuccio is Time Warner's general counsel and one of the only senior AOL execs to survive the company's ill-fated merger with Time Warner in 2001. He reports to Time Warner capo Jeff Bewkes.

Backstory

Cappuccio's roots are as modest as they come: When he was a student at Harvard Law School in the '80s, his father was cleaning fluorescent lights at the university; at his graduation ceremony, the school served mints made by the candy factory that employed his mom. After law school, Cappuccio moved to Washington where he clerked for Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Kennedy. Following a stint as an associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, he joined the Washington office of Kirkland & Ellis in 1993 and made partner shortly thereafter. Six years later he left to become general counsel at AOL; just a year after his arrival, he started working on the transaction to bring AOL together with Time Warner—at the time the largest merger in history. Along with his boss, Steve Case, and the M&A team at Simpson Thatcher led by Richard Beattie, the $150 billion transaction was assembled in a matter of days.

Of note

As Time Warner's stock sank like a rock during the dot-com implosion and angry shareholders demanded accountability, most of AOL's senior management—including Steve Case and Bob Pittman—was escorted out the door. Cappuccio was one of the only ones who managed to stick around. But although he survived the purge, he hasn't had the easiest ride since. The company has been under extraordinary pressure to improve operations the past few years, tension that came to a head in 2006 when Carl Icahn and dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein attempted to seize control of the firm. Cappuccio worked with Cravath's Bob Joffe (among others) to fend them off.

Keeping score

Cappuccio took home more than $5 million in 2006.

For the record

In March 2005, Cappuccio argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, a rarity for an in-house corporate lawyer. Cappuccio argued that cable companies shouldn't have to share their lines with independent Internet service providers. He won.

AKA

Friends and co-workers call him "Pooch." A popular figure in conservative circles during his days clerking at the Supreme Court, he was nicknamed "Justice Cappuccio" by one of his old mentors, Ken Starr.

Personal

Cappuccio is single and lives in a high-end condo on West 67th Street; his neighbors include Sam Champion and David Henry Hwang. He also has a place in Miami.

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