Around the house

Global media and technology company Comcast Corporation has promoted Arthur Block to Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Comcast Corporation and reporting to David Cohen, Executive Vice President of Comcast Corporation. Mr Block previously served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Comcast. As the Company’s chief legal officer,he oversees Comcast’s legal, corporate governance, compliance and strategic intellectual property functions. During his 26 years with the company, he has served as the lead in-house attorney for Comcast’s mergers, acquisitions and financings, including transformative acquisitions like AT&T Broadband and NBCUniversal. Prior to joining Comcast,  he was a partner in the Corporate Department of the Philadelphia law firm Wolf Block where he began his legal career in 1978.  During his tenure at Wolf Block, he served as a legal advisor to Comcast before joining the company as in-house counsel in 1989. 

Biomedical company Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the not-for-profit 125 year old laboratory which is home to eight Nobel prize winners, has appointed Charles Ryan as its new general counsel. Mr Ryan was previously former Senior Vice President & Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Forest Laboratories. 'Charles Ryan’s expertise in the intellectual property and the pharmaceutical industry will help CSHL continue efforts to bring the benefits of biological discoveries to society,' said CSHL Chief Operating Officer Dillaway Ayres.

The Co-operative Bank has hired a new general counsel. Claire Morris joins the company from Nationwide Building Society where she was deputy GC. She replaces previous head of legal James Southworth who has returned to private practice at Eversheds.

Leverate general counsel Steven Kruger will depart from the company this week to join a binary options firm.  Mr Kruger joined the company less than a year ago April 2014 as general gounsel  from law firm Barnea & Co. Prior to that he worked as legal advisor to an FX company in Israel and earlier as a barrister in South Africa.

Rhonda Parish was appointed Chief Legal Officer of Ruby Tuesday Inc. Parish has more than 30 years of experience in retail and restaurant industries. She most recently served as the chief legal officer of Einstein Noah Restaurant Group in Lakewood, Colorado and has held a number of executive positions, including assistant general counsel at Wal-Mart Stores.