Around the house

The New York Times has promoted current deputy Diane Brayton to the role of general counsel as longstanding legal chief Kenneth Richieri prepares to step down on 31 December. Mr Richieri has worked in-house at the leading newspaper for the last 33 years, the most recent 10 of which he has served as general counsel. A former Cleary Gottlieb lawyer, Ms Brayton joined the New York Times’ legal department as counsel in 2004. She ascended to senior counsel in 2007 and to assistant secretary and assistant general counsel in 2009, before being named as deputy general counsel in 2011.

Meanwhile, Southeastern fast food chain Bojangles’ has appointed Laura Roberts as its new vice president, secretary, compliance officer and general counsel. A graduate of Columbia Law School, Ms Roberts has been promoted from within the ranks of Bojangles’ legal department to replace incumbent general counsel Eric Newman, who resigned from the company in September. Prior to moving in-house Ms Roberts served stints as a corporate lawyers at big-name firms Shearman & Sterling in New York and Baker Botts in Houston.

Earlier this month, Chinese tech giant Lenovo announced that it had hired decorated IP lawyer Laura Quatela as its new chief legal officer. Ms Quatela was formerly an executive at Kodak, where she served stints as both general counsel and president of the company before leaving to found Quatela Lynch Intellectual Property with longtime Kodak colleague Tim Lynch. She was later hired as a non-employee executive officer by Alcatel Lucent, where she provided intellectual property advice to the CEO. Though her role with Lenovo is full-time and permanent, Quatela Lynch will continue to offer its consulting services in her absence.

Baltia Air Lines has named aviation lawyer George W. Kelsey as its new general counsel. Mr Kelsey’s firm, Kelsey Law Group, specialises in many facets of aviation law including complex commercial litigation, aircraft sales and purchases, leasing agreements, engines and maintenance. Though his career in aviation law spans more than three decades, this is Mr Kelsey’s first in-house role.  

Finally, First Hawaiian Bank has announced that former Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton partner Joel Rappoport will be joining its senior management committee as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of both the bank and its holding company First Hawaiian Inc. Mr Rappoport has been a partner in Kilpatrick Townsend’s financial institutions team since 2008, working out of the firm’s office in Washington DC. During his career he has also been a member of the partnership at several other firm in DC including Muldoon Murphy & Aguggia, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young and Housley Kantarian & Bronstein. First Hawaiian Bank is the largest bank in the state, while its parent company is the largest publicly traded company in Hawaii.