Three months after it was confirmed the International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s (ISDA) longstanding general counsel (GC) David Geen had stood down, the trade organisation has announced a replacement, appointing Katherine Tew Darras to the role.
Tew Darras has been ISDA’s acting general counsel since Geen departed after ten years in the role in January and will continue to be based in the organisation’s New York office.
Joining the organisation in 2001 as assistant general counsel and moving up to the role as general counsel for the Americas in 2008, Tew Darras will continue to lead ISDA’s efforts to develop the legal standards, documentation and opinions necessary to support global cleared and non-cleared derivatives businesses.
Before joining ISDA, Tew Darras was an associate in the financial institutions group at French law firm Salans, which later became Dentons.
ISDA chief executive Scott O’Malia said Tew Darras will continue to provide ‘critical leadership to this organization during an important period of market change’, adding: ‘ISDA has developed an unrivalled reputation for legal expertise in the derivatives market, going back to the publication of the ISDA Master Agreement. Katherine has been with ISDA for the past 15 years and knows the organisation inside and out, and I am counting on her to provide sound legal advice as general counsel, just as she has throughout her time at ISDA.’
Late last year ISDA was accused alongside a dozen major banks and data provider Markit by investors of rigging the credit derivatives market in a case which resulted in a $1.87bn settlement.
In other recent in-house announcements, French multinational aerospace, defence and security firm Safran has revealed its inaugural global legal panel with Eversheds, Hogan Lovells and Baker & McKenzie all winning appointments. Weil, Gotshal & Manges, as well as Fieldfisher and Osborne Clarke (OC) have also made the roster, alongside domestic French boutiques Betto Seraglini, Brunswick Société d’Avocats and Courrégé Foreman.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk