The UK In-House Senior Legal Moves – January to April 2020

The first few months of 2020 were particularly buoyant for hiring in the in-house legal sector, an uptick in the number of senior hires compared to what we would ordinarily see at that time of the year.

Despite the changes in the market due to the COVID-19 pandemic, critical and strategic senior hires are still being made for a number of firms across the board.

See below for a snapshot of senior legal moves and promotions which took place in the first quarter of 2020.

Banking

James Morgan and Prabhat Kumar have been promoted to jointly Co-Head of the Legal function for MUFG across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Prior to this promotion, James Morgan was the Head of Primary Markets and Sales & Trading Legal, and Prabhat Kumar, the Head of Structuring Legal.

Richard Johnson joins Wells Fargo as EMEA Managing Counsel to lead a team of experienced lawyers from his role as Senior Legal Consultant at BNY Mellon.

Jonathan Lagan joins Aldermore Bank as General Counsel from his role as Group General Counsel & Company Secretary at Balfour Beatty.

Carolyn Jones joins Daiwa Capital Markets Europe as the Head of Legal and Transaction Management Department from her role as Co-Head of Legal at BBVA.

Nicholas Joyce joins Ahli United Bank as the new Head of Legal and Company Secretary from his consulting role at BNP Paribas.

Oliver Rooke, Head of Bank Legal for Close Brothers has taken on the additional role as Group Head of Legal Operations.

Investment Management

Nicole Vella has joined as General Counsel at Metric Capital Partners from her role as a Lawyer in the Corporate Private Equity practice of White and Case.

Aaron Kienwaldjoins Oakley Capital as the Head of Legal (Funds), from his role as an Associate in the Private Equity Funds team at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Bijal Shah joins Partners Group from her role at Brown Brother Herriman where she was the Global Head of FX Contracts and Regulatory Strategy.

Emily Lanfear has been promoted from her role as Senior Legal Counsel to her position as Head of Legal at Sarasin and Partners.

Sharn Gill has been promoted to General Counsel at Queensgate Investments from her role as Vice President.

Matthew Toppjoins Australian Super as a European Legal Counsel from his role as Director, Real Estate at BlackRock.

Edel Coughlan, ex AQR and Fidelity has joined the Asset Management Exchange as a Lawyer based in their Cork office.

Fintech / Payments / Regulatory

Dean Nash joins TransferWise as General Counsel from his role as Chief Legal Officer at Monzo.

Olivia Broderick joins the online payment company, Checkout.com as its first GC and Head of Regulatory after three years as General Counsel at Zopa UK.

Valerie Borden Farkas has been promoted to Head of Legal, EMEA at Bloomberg LLP from her role as Senior Counsel.

Christopher Rich, a Managing Associate from Linklaters has taken up the role of General Counsel at the FICC Markets Standards Board (FSMB), a standard setting body for the wholesale fixed income, currencies and commodities markets.

DANOS ASSOCIATES – LEGAL

Danos Associates is a leading specialist executive search firm providing a personalised, discreet recruitment and selection service to an elite client base across the global market.

With an unparalleled talent network, we provide experienced, top quality professionals within the Legal sector throughout EMEA, the Americas and APAC.

Our network and deep understanding of the in-house market perfectly positions us to efficiently source the best individuals for your organisation, whether that be General Counsel or junior level lawyers.

We pride ourselves on being able to match talent not just to the requirements of the role, but also to the culture of the team and the organisation.

Our offering:

• Retained Search
• Contingency Recruitment

Having an interconnected practice successfully enables us to uniquely leverage the Legal and Compliance spheres within financial institutions, professional services, and commercial companies.

Over the past decade, our search consultants have developed a comprehensive network of candidates and clients, built through both delivery on mandates and nurturing of relationships.

If you would like a copy of the report, or if you have any further queries, please do contact me. Maame Eshun, Email: meshun@danosassociates.com or phone:
+ 44 (0) 20 3908 4809.