US banking giant JPMorgan Chase continues its strategic expansion of its legal function, and has recruited Goldman Sachs heavyweight counsel John Tribolati as its new EMEA general counsel (GC). Tribolati succeeds Piers Le Marchant, who has now been appointed as global head of compliance for corporate and investment banking.
A former lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Tribolati joined Goldman Sachs as executive director in Tokyo in 2001 from JP Morgan’s Asia Pacific offering where he was managing director and head of legal & compliance. A year later, he moved to Goldman’s London office to co-head the derivatives legal team. He has undertaken multiple management roles at the bank including acting as EMEA deputy GC, co-leading the EMEA securities division legal team, and having oversight of the EMEA investment management division, investment banking division, and principal and loan finance legal practice areas.
His move to JP Morgan Chase follows the bank’s recruitment of Piers Le Marchant in April from Japanese-based investment bank Nomura. Le Marchant, one of the most prominent UK counsel in finance, was hired as JP Morgan Chase’s EMEA GC to replace longstanding head Karen Linney who retired last year.
For Goldman Sachs, Tribolati’s move constitutes another signifcant departure in the legal team, having lost its European head and co-head of restructuring Andrew Wilkinson to Weil, Gotshal & Manges in April 2014.
Before his move into banking Wilkinson was a prominent insolvency lawyer, having led the restructuring group at Clifford Chance and pioneered a ground-breaking and highly lucrative bondholder-focused practice at the London branch of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft from 1997 to 2007.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
