Just before scandal broke about Bloomberg reporters using private data from the company's ubiquitous terminals, Charles Glasser, an in-house lawyer responsible for training editors and reporters at Bloomberg News, announced his departure after 12 years with the company.

In an email to colleagues sent Monday morning, reprinted by Talking Biz News, Glasser, 55, wrote:

. . . it’s time for me for pay more attention to myself. I have no long-term plans at the moment . . .

Last November, in an essay entitled "Where Was Jack Welch's Charles Glasser?" Bloomberg News editor-at-large Tom Keene called Glasser "Bloomberg News' resident pit-bull terrier":

Glasser is also very good at developing and defining the need for “question marks.”

I cannot calculate the number of times Attorney Glasser has saved me from digital idiocy. (As one small example, his lecture, and I mean lecture, on how the Media should and must handle impending corporate bankruptcy still rings in my ears.)

Each and every moment of my digital life is knowing that one dumb “tweet” could destroy me.

Charles Glasser whispers to me 24/7.

Glasser officially left on May 1st. In the New York Post story that kicked off the debate about whether clients were unfairly spied on came out on May 10th. In it, the paper says Goldman Sachs had been meeting face-to-face with top brass at Bloomberg News about the issue "in recent weeks." According to a source Goldman initially complained in early April and Glasser was not present for the meetings.

Fifty-five is young to opt out of what seems like a lifetime appointment at Bloomberg, a company whose (now 71-year-old founder) famously wrote: "We have a loyalty to us. Leave, and you're them.'' A Bloomberg News spokesperson said, "No one has been fired," related to the snooping scandal.

"I'm proud to have served Bloomberg for 12 years," Glasser told Gawker. When asked whether he had advised reporters about the use of terminal data, he said, "As an attorney, it would not be appropriate for me to discuss my advice on what a reporter should or shouldn’t do."

Here is the email sent out to the newsroom on May 5th:

——- Original Message ——-
From: RETO GREGORI (BLOOMBERG/ NEWSROOM:)
To: TY TRIPPET (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEXIN)
At: May 14 2013 17:38:30

EEs — After almost a dozen years of dedicated service to
Bloomberg News, Charles Glasser has decided to leave the company
for personal reasons. We wish him all the best in his future
endeavors. Please contact Tom Golden and Deirdre Hykal for
assistance with news-related legal issues. Thanks, Reto.

To contact the author of this post, please email nitasha@gawker.com.