Kraft Heinz has appointed Rashida La Lande as its new global general counsel and corporate secretary. She joins from US law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher where she represented companies and private equity sponsors in the consumer products, retail, financial services, and technology industries. She will replace Jim Savina, who has decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities. Mr Savina played a key role in the 2015 integration of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Company, holding various legal leadership positions during his five-year tenure.

Tracey Laws has joined Chubb as senior vice president, general counsel, global government and Industry affairs. In this newly created position, Ms Laws will provide legal, regulatory and policy guidance and advice to Chubb's state, federal and international government affairs team. She will coordinate and ensure consistency in advocacy throughout the company's government affairs activities and will represent the company in a wide range of regulatory and industry settings. Ms Laws will report to Jodi Hanson Bond, executive vice president of global government and industry affairs and be based in Washington DC.  Most recently, Ms Laws was senior vice president and general counsel at the Reinsurance Association of America. She was previously a partner at the law firm of Chadbourne & Park and is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. The appointment is effective from 2 January.

Lead Bank has recruited a new general counsel. Julie Pine has been hired as the bank’s new general counsel and chief regulatory officer. Ms Pine spent the past three years at Overland Park-based Mariner Holdings as its general counsel. She has 10 years of legal experience, including seven at McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan where she handled commercial litigation, contract disputes, employment law, professional negligence, debtor-creditor matters and other legal activities.

Root Insurance, the nation’s first car insurance company founded on the principle of fundamental fairness and powered entirely by mobile, has hired Jon Allison as its first general counsel, effective immediately. Mr Allison will be a vital member to the Root team as it continues its nationwide expansion across the United States. Prior to joining Root, Mr Allison served on the senior management team of CareSource, a regional non-profit managed health care plan. He was also the Ohio counsel for the Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), representing clients in licensing and other regulatory matters before the Ohio Department of Insurance.

Avaya has appointed Shefali Shah as senior vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel for Avaya, effective the 18th of December. She will be responsible for the worldwide law department and global human resources organisation and will serve on the company's executive committee. Ms Shah joins Avaya from Era Group, one of the largest helicopter operators in the world, where she served as SVP, general counsel, and corporate secretary. She facilitated Era's transition to an independent public company and managed its legal, human resources benefits and corporate communications functions. Previously, Ms Shah held several senior management roles, including senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary with Comverse Technology which developed and marketed telecommunications software. She began her legal career as a corporate associate for each of Weil, Gotshal & Manges  and Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar.