Melvin ‘Butch’ Hollowell, Detroit's corporation counsel, is stepping down at the end of the year to open The Miller Law firm's new office in the city. Mr Hollowell was counsel for Mayor Mike Duggan's 2013 election campaign after serving as general counsel for the Detroit branch of the NAACP. He is also a former Michigan Democratic Party co-chair and Wayne County deputy executive. Hollowell will become managing partner of The Miller Law Firm's Detroit office which specialises in business litigation and consumer class action lawsuits. A release said Mr Hollowell has saved the city millions of dollars by reducing litigation payouts from an average of $30 million per year to $16 million in 2016 and created the Commercial Blight Unit and Income Tax Unit. Mayor Duggan has said that he plans to nominate lawyer Lawrence Garcia as Detroit's next corporation counsel - a two-time president of the Hispanic Bar Association of Michigan with more than two decades of courtroom experience. 

Kulicke & Soffa Industries has named Lester Wong general counsel  and senior vice president of legal affairs. The move comes in the wake of an announcement that Jonathan Chou has stepped down as executive vice president, chief financial officer and principal accounting officer of the company, effective immediately, to spend more time with his family and to pursue other interests. He will remain with the company until next February to ensure an orderly transition. Mr Wong will fill the role of interim chief financial officer and the company will conduct a search for a permanent successor among external and internal candidates. Mr Wong has been Kulicke & Soffa’s general counsel since 2011. His career includes roles as general counsel and senior legal counsel of several Asia-based US listed companies where he played key roles in managing the company’s public reporting, compliance, litigation and M&A activities. Kulicke & Soffa is a leading provider of semiconductor packaging and electronic assembly solutions supporting the global automotive, consumer, communications, computing and industrial segments.

Ironshore has named Kristin McMahon head of global claims. Ms McMahon will have global responsibility for claims management oversight and litigation management services and will report to Shaun Kelly, president, the insurer said in a statement. She assumes the role from Mike Mitrovic following his recent departure for unknown reasons from the company. Ms McMahon joined Ironshore in 2008 as the chief claims officer for IronHealth and, most recently, was head of US claims. ‘We are pleased that Miss McMahon will assume this important global leadership role. She has been a valued member of the Ironshore team since Ironshore’s inception,’ Mr Kelly said in the statement. The move follows the announcement of Toby Smith being named President of Ironshore Environmental, replacing John O’Brien, who also left the company.

Agility Health, a provider of physical rehabilitation services, orthotics, prosthetics, foot care services and software services, has announced that Joseph Laurent, vice president, human resources and corporate compliance office, has been appointed as the company's corporate secretary. Mr Laurent replaces Michael Daray who had been the company's corporate secretary and general counsel since June 2015. Mr Daray will remain as an on-call employee with Agility Health. ‘We are appreciative of Michael's many valuable contributions to the company,’ said Pierre Gagnon, chairman and interim CEO. ‘He has played a major role in the negotiation of key partnership agreements and acquisitions. His counsel and direction on legal, business and strategy matters have greatly benefited the company.’ 

Entertainment and technology lawyer Richard Wilks has joined Inter Alia Law. Prior to joining Inter Alia, he ran his own legal and consulting practice through which he acted as general counsel to a well-known Canadian technology startup and adviser to a major television distributor on content and rights licensing. Mr Wilks has experience with the wide range of agreements that arise for companies experiencing rapid growth and change, and brings legal and business acumen to book publishing, film and TV deals, software licences, sales agreements and copyright and trademark issues. Prior to running his own practice he worked for 10 years at Shaw Media (formerly CanWest) where he led the legal teams that negotiated content licences and distribution agreements for Shaw’s TV networks and digital media properties. He is a mentor at Ryerson’s DMZ and at ideaBOOST, the Canadian Film Centre’s accelerator program for digital entertainment and technology startups.