Comic Relief general counsel and company secretary David Lewis is departing to become the first ever non-US legal counsel at the popular photo sharing platform Snapchat. Mr Lewis is leaving the charity after only one year, having joined from Fieldfisher last year. Prior to his four-year stint in private practice at Fieldfisher, Mr Lewis was an in-house lawyer at the BBC. A spokesperson confirmed that Mr Lewis plans to stay closely connected with Comic Relief following his departure on 4 November 4 and will ‘support the charity in other ways in the future.’ Comic Relief is looking to recruit and interim general counsel for November, with a permanent successor to be found ‘as soon as possible.’

Meanwhile, Chicago-based Athletico Physical Therapy has named Jason Barclay as its new general counsel. Mr Barclay is joining Athletico after serving as general counsel for Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and as chief legal officer for the executive branch of the Illinois state government. A graduate of Duke University and University of Virginia Law School, Mr Barclay has also previously chaired the State Athletic Commission and has served on the boards of the Indiana Sports Corporation, Indiana Horse Racing Commission, Nexus Academy and Duke Athletic Council. He will join Athletico from 1 November reporting directly to chief executive officer Mark Kaufman.

Cox Enterprises has appointed Juliette Pryor to the role of senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective immediately. Ms Pryor will be replacing incumbent GC Shauna Muhl, who is stepping down at the end of this year after an impressive 22 years at Cox, the last seven of which have been spent at the helm of the legal department. Prior to joining Cox, Ms Pryor served as EVP, GC and chief compliance officer at US Foods and earlier as an attorney at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. She earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Centre.

Virginia-headquartred rail network Norfolk Southern Railway has confirmed that long-serving in-house lawyer and current chief legal officer James Hixon will be retiring on 1 December. Mr Hixon first joined Norfolk Southern in 1985 as a tax attorney before being elected as a company officer in 1993 and then promoted to chief legal officer in 2005. An industry expert in legal and government relations matters, Mr Hixon is currently chairman of the policy and advocacy committee of the Association of American Railroads. The bulk of Mr Hixon’s legal and corporate communications responsibilities will be absorbed by William Galanko, who has been named senior vice president of law and corporate communications as of 1 December.

Finally, Toyota UK general counsel Tim Greenwell has left the car manufacturer to become the new legal director for football team Southampton FC. Mr Greenwell leaves Toyota after three and a half years as GC, having previously held legal and compliance roles at companies including Edwards, Deutsche Bank and law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.