JP Morgan Chase will appoint its current corporate and investment general counsel (GC) Stacey Friedman as GC early next year as incumbent Stephen Cutler takes on the vice chairman role.
Friedman, who was previously a litigation partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, joined JP Morgan three years ago. The bank was a client of Friedman and during her time at Sullivan, she worked for it on litigation and investigations including its acquisition of Washington Mutual assets from the FDIC, which then led to Sullivan becoming lead counsel on all of JP Morgan’s mortgage-backed securities work.
Friedman will report to Cutler as his deputy until she takes up her new role at the beginning of next year. As GC, Friedman will also join the bank’s operating committee.
Cutler, who has served as GC and executive vice president at JP Morgan since 2007, joined the bank from the Washington office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr where he was both partner and co-chairman of the securities department from 2005. As vice chairman, Cutler will act as a senior adviser to JP Morgan’s chairman and chief executive James Dimon, other executives and the board of directors while continuing to provide advice on more complex legal issues.
Last year, JP Morgan recruited Nomura’s Piers Le Marchant as its new general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), following the retirement of longstanding regional GC Karen Linney.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk