Lar Sjobring, general counsel of Swiss oil driller Transocean, will leave at the end of the year. Mr Sjobring deftly navigated the oil rig operator through the aftermath of the largest oil spill in history. Despite Transocean owning and operating the rig that exploded, Mr Sjobring's team wrung a US$125m settlement out of BP over legal fees. Transocean was found by a Louisiana court to be 30 per cent responsible for the disaster, with BP 67 per cent culpible. The oil industry GC has said he will assist in the search for his successor. 

Bitcoin exchange itBit, a trust company based in New York, have poached Daniel Alter from New York State, where he worked for three years as GC. State law in the New York ensures Mr Alter has 24 months' garden leave from any dealings with the regulator he helped to run, with him telling a Reuters reporter: 'I have a two-year recusal before I can appear before the New York Department of Financial Services on behalf of the company.' 

Another US government move is at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), where existing GC David Morenoff was demoted to deputy general counsel. Max Minzer, a professor at the University of New Mexico, becomes FERC's new GC. 

Multinational IT firm Juniper Networks is bringing in Brian Martin as GC and corporate secretary. A veteran of the computer industry, Mr Martin spent a decade at Sun Microsystems.