Dane Butswinkas, the Washington-based trial lawyer and chairman of Williams & Connolly, is to be  the next general counsel to Tesla Inc. The company has been embroiled in intense regulatory scrutiny. Mr Butswinkas said, ‘after 30 years as a trial lawyer at Williams & Connolly, I would have never imagined joining a company in-house.’ He will succeed Todd Maron, general counsel since 2013.

Watertown, Massachusetts-based EyePoint Pharmaceuticals has appointed Ron Honig to the new role of senior vice president, general counsel and company secretary. He oversees the company’s legal activities, including the legal aspects of licensing, compliance, strategic transactions and business development. Mr Honig has worked for more than 25 years in the medical device, biotechnology, contract manufacturing and legal services industries. He most recently served as vice president for global legal affairs at Novanta.

San Diego, California-based Cidara Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, has appointed Jessica Oien as general counsel and secretary. Ms Oien was previously vice president for compliance at Otonomy, where she developed and oversaw the commercial compliance program and was the legal lead for the commercial business. She has served in similar roles at Pernix Therapeutics, Somaxon Pharmaceuticals and Verus Pharmaceuticals. The appointment follows the departure in August of Matthew Onaitis, who was both CFO and general counsel at Cidara, to join Mainstay Medical International as CFO.

Nasdaq-listed Sonos has announced that Eddie Lazarus will join the Sonos team as its new chief legal officer, effective Jan. 2, 2019. Mr Lazarus joins Sonos after a distinguished career as an attorney, including most recently as general counsel and chief strategy officer for Tribune Media Company from 2013 to 2018. He will be responsible for all legal, corporate governance, SEC reporting, government affairs, regulatory and compliance activities across Sonos’ global operations. Prior to his role at Tribune Media, Lazarus served as the chief of staff to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from June 2009 to Feb. 2012. In addition to his career as an attorney, Mr Lazarus is the author of two books: ‘Black Hills/White Justice: The Sioux Nation Versus the United States, 1775 to the Present”’ and ‘Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court.’

Julie Lewis has been promoted to general counsel and corporate secretary at Rochester, New York-based Carestream Health. Ms Lewis was deputy general counsel and chief privacy officer for more than 10 years at the medical imaging company.