Longtime Toys R Us general counsel David Schwartz is making the switch to Hudson Bay Co, the parent company of retail brands including Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor. He will assume the role of general counsel from 30 September, replacing outgoing GC David Pickwoad, who has held the title for the last six years. Mr Schwartz joined Toys R Us as a VP and corporate counsel in 2001, before being promoted to deputy GC in 2002 and then to GC the following year.

Meanwhile, New York-based online brokerage ETrade Financial Corp has promoted its own general counsel Karl Roessner to the role of chief executive. Mr Roessner left his position as a partner in Clifford Chance’s mergers and acquisitions team in 2009 to join ETrade Financial as executive vice president and GC. A statement from ETrade Financial describes Mr Roessner as ‘a proven and embedded leader with deep company expertise.’ He is replacing former chief executive Paul Idzik, who has left the company.

Lenovo senior vice president and general counsel Scott Offer is leaving to join San Jose-based supply chain and manufacturing company Flex (formerly Flextronics) as general counsel. He will replace interim general counsel Susan Marsch, who has been occupying the role since the departure of Flex’s former GC Jonathan Hoak in July. Mr Offer earned his law degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is qualified to practice in both the US and the UK. He was general counsel of Motorola Mobility from 2002 until its absorption into Lenovo in 2014.

Development engine Unity Technology has announced the hire of Ruth Ann Keene as its new general counsel. Ms Keene joins the company after an 11-year career at Autodesk¸ where she most recently served as vice president, assistant general counsel and assistant secretary. At Autodesk, she oversaw worldwide litigation and intellectual property as well as legal teams for the company’s technical, product, cloud and marketing groups. Prior to moving in-house, Ms Keene held various roles in the technologies transactions practice at Morrison & Foerster. She will report directly to Unity chief executive John Riccitiello.

Finally, commercial lending and leasing services group CIT has appointed Stuart Alderoty as its new executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Mr Alderoty joins CIT from HSBC North America Holdings, where he has held the role of general counsel since November 2010. Prior to joining HSBC, Mr Alderoty served stints as managing counsel at American Express and as a partner at law firm LeBouef, Lamb, Green & MacRae, where he specialised in litigation. At CIT he succeeds Robert Ignato, who is staying on as a strategic advisor until the end of the year.