Virtual reality media company Jaunt has hired Matthew Zinn as its first general counsel and corporate secretary. Mr Zinn joins the company this week. He previously worked for TiVo as its general counsel, SVP, chief privacy officer and corporate secretary. He spent 17 years with TiVo which was acquired by Rovi last year. Its investors include The Walt Disney Co, Google Ventures, Axel Springer and The Madison Square Co among others.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets’ group general counsel Mark Amsden has moved on from the company. Mr Amsden, who was also company secretary, joined four years ago from law firm Addleshaw Goodard where he was a commercial litigation partner. He set up the first legal panel for Morrisons. No announcement about his replacement has been made.

London Capital Group Holdings, a provider of foreign exchange, contracts-for-difference and stocks, has also seen its general counsel and company secretary depart.  Simon Hooks has left the company after less than a year in the job. Mr Hooks joined LCG from NetOTC, an over-the-counter (solutions provider, having worked in a similar role as its legal counsel, extending back to October 2015. In this capacity he oversaw a legal team, helping advise management on organisation and specialist derivatives work. Prior to this, he worked at Deutsche Bank as a secondee legal counsel. He also spent time at law firm Allen & Overy. 

Laurence Grayer has been named general counsel and chief compliance officer at Washington DC professional services firm Creative Associates International. Mr Grayer, a former senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of DynCorp International,  will oversee Creative’s legal affairs and corporate compliance functions as well as provide local counsel support to its businesses in Central America, Africa and Asia.  Before he joined DynCorp in 2006, he served as assistant general counsel at the Amalgamated Transit Union where he set up the group’s International Disaster Relief Fund.

Pia Sarma has been appointed as deputy general counsel at News UK. Ms Sarma  is editorial legal director for The Times and The Sunday Times and she has been involved in a range of matters from working on law reform and press regulation. She was also responsible for suing  Lance Armstrong for recovery of libel damages paid to him after he admitted cheating. She will continue to oversee legal matters for the two papers.She joined the company in 2009 and became head of the TNL legal team in 2010. Pia is a board member of the Regulatory Funding Company (RFC) which oversees funding for IPSO and a member of the Media Lawyers’ Association steering committee.