Around the house

Dropbox general counsel Ramsey Homsany has announced his resignation. Mr Homsany has been the cloud-sharing platform’s top legal custodian for more than five years and was the startup’s first in-house lawyer, having joined after being in-house at Google for eight years. Dropbox has announced that head of litigation and regulatory affairs Bart Volkmer will be stepping up to replace Mr Homsany from June 20. Both Mr Homsany and Mr Volkmer are alums of Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.

Meanwhile, Nesta general counsel and company secretary Clare Goodman has departed to become the new head of legal services at Big Lottery Fund. Ms Goodman spent six years as part of Nesta’s in-house team, joining the independent charity after a period at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, where she oversaw the European rollout of the PlayStation Network, and as a solicitor at law firm Bristows.

The New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Company has named Wellington-based lawyer James Dunne as its new general counsel and company secretary. Mr Dunne will be filling the chair of former GC Simon Cooper, who recently returned to England after a 12 years with NZTR to accept a new role at Wetherbys as operations director for the General Stud Book. Mr Dunne will step into his new role from 27 June.

In Washington DC, the Federal Communications Commission has promoted two lawyers to senior in-house positions. General counsel Jonathan Sallet has named Jennifer Tatel as deputy general counsel, while colleague John Williams has been appointed as senior counselor to the general counsel. Ms Sallet is a graduate of George Washington University Law School and worked as a private practice solicitor and a social worker before moving in-house. Mr Williams earned his law degree at Georgetown University Law Centre and has served as general counsel of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation before joining the FCC.  

Finally, US freight railroad giant Union Pacific has hired Rhonda Ferguson as its new executive vice president and chief legal officer. Ms Ferguson will assume her new role from 11 July, leaving behind Fortune 200 diversified energy company FirstEnergy where she has served as vice president, corporate secretary and chief ethics officer since 2007. Ms Ferguson was a partner at BakerHostetler in Cleveland before moving in-house.