Barclays regulatory head Chris Allen has been hired by Standard Chartered as its new general counsel for clients and products. Mr Allen has been with Barclays since 2004, serving as managing director for legal in the bank’s investment division before being promoted to regulatory head in 2013. His new role at Standard Chartered will see him relocate to Singapore and report directly to the company’s most senior lawyer, general counsel David Fein. He will commence in the new role on 13 January.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo & Co general counsel James Strother has confirmed that he will delay his planned retirement at the end of this year. Mr Strother turned 65 years old earlier this year, triggering Wells Fargo’s mandatory age retirement policy for members of the operating committee. However, Mr Strother will be staying on indefinitely as GC to help the company deal with the fallout from its recent fake accounts scandal, which ended in an $185 million settlement with state and federal regulators in September. The search for Mr Strother’s successor will continue while he stays at the helm.

Former UBS EMEA group general counsel Andrew Williams is returning to private practice, joining law firm Simmons & Simmons as a senior consultant to its City financial institutions practice. Mr Williams will work at Simmons’ London office two days a week and will be tasked with helping the firm build ‘a preeminent financial services regulatory team.’ The in-house veteran spent almost 20 years at UBS, most recently serving as general counsel of its wealth management division and previously serving stints as chief compliance officer, EMEA group general counsel and EMEA head of legal. Simmons & Simmons is a longstanding adviser to UBS.

Global beauty company Mary Kay has appointed Julia Simon as its new chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Ms Simon will be based at the company’s headquarters in Texas and will oversee all aspects of Mary Kay’s legal, risk management, corporate communications and corporate social responsibility functions. She first joined Mary Kay as an employment lawyers in 1995, but left to rejoin law firm Locke Purnell Rain Harrell where she made partner in 1998. Mary Kay welcomed her back to their in-house team in 2000, and she is being promoted from her most recent role as vice president, deputy general counsel and assistant secretary.

Finally, US-based power management company Eaton has named Heath Monesmith as its new executive vice president and general counsel. Mr Monesmith will assume the role on 1 March 2017, and will report directly to Eaton chairman and chief executive officer Craig Arnold. Currently Eaton’s deputy general counsel, Mr Monesmith joined the company through its 2012 acquisition of Cooper Industries, where he had worked in-house since 2006. Prior to moving in-house, Mr Monesmith was a partner at the Pittsburgh office of international law firm K&L Gates. He will be replacing incumbent general counsel Mark McGuire, who is retiring early next year.