Renewable Energy Trust Capital, (RET Capital) has appointed Michael Young as vice president, legal and administration. Mr Young joins RET Capital from GCL Solar Energy where he served as general counsel and was responsible for all legal matters related to the development, financing and operation of utility scale PV solar projects in the United States, Japan, Puerto Rico and India. Prior to GCL, Young served as vice president and general counsel, at Hay Solar Holdings ULC, a start-up renewable energy development company, where he was involved in the development of a distributed generation portfolio in Ontario, Canada. He also worked for Montgomery Energy Partners,  NorthWestern Energy and NRG Energy Inc. 

NanoLumens, a global manufacturer and marketer of visualisation solutions, has appointed Mark Carlson as general counsel and vice president of strategic initiatives, reporting directly to NanoLumens CEO Rick Cope. Before joining NanoLumens, Mark Carlson served as the Corporate/M&A group chair at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. He has also served as director of business development at Silicon Valley wireless start up Fantasma Networks, as a lawyer at Shearman & Sterling and as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. ‘The role of general counsel has changed dramatically over the last ten years and, increasingly, a company’s general counsel is being called upon to play a more important role in shaping how businesses operate, managing different kinds of risk, and guiding corporate conduct overall,’ Mr Cope said.

Insurance company Ace has recruited a lawyer from Australian bank Westpac as its general counsel for Australia and New Zealand. Gabija Simmonds joins the company after seven years at Westpac, latterly as head of legal - insurance. She has also worked in private practice. 

A top General Dynamics lawyer is joining the government contracts practice of law firm Jenner & Block. Mark Nackman served in a number of roles at the company including heading a number of its legal departments, including its commercial cybersecurity government business unit. He managed a department of 140 people and seven lawyers. Before joining General Dynamics in 2011, Mr. Nackman served as vice president and associate general counsel at Alliant Techsystems (ATK). He was previously a civilian attorney-advisor and active-duty judge advocate (JAG) with the US Air Force, including serving as staff judge advocate for an airbase in Iraq in 2005. From 2000 to 2002, he served as a special assistant US attorney in the District of New Mexico. In 2014, Mr Nackman was appointed jointly by the US Secretary of Commerce and the US Trade Representative to serve as a member of the International Trade Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, a Federal Advisory Committee. 

Emap has hired Serena Davidson as its first head of legal, dealing  with regulatory and risk issues at the media company. Ms Davidson previously worked at  law firm Travers Smith as its operations director. She also served as head of legal, mergers and acquisitions at Bupa and was general counsel at luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent for a short period. She trained at Wragge & Co.