After six years as deputy group general counsel (GC), Michael Shaw has become the latest senior exit from Barclays‘ legal team which has suffered multiple departures since the start of the year.
The bank announced this morning that Shaw [Profile] would be leaving his post at the end of September with a spokesperson saying the exit was down to ‘family reasons’.
Bob Hoyt, who piped Shaw to become Barclays’ GC in October 2013, told staff in an internal memo: ‘After almost six years as group deputy general counsel, Michael Shaw has decided to leave Barclays at the end of September to pursue other interests.’
‘During his time with us, Michael has played a major role in helping Barclays navigate a number of legal challenges and has played a fundamental role in the leadership of the legal function… We will be conducting an internal and external search for a successor and Michael and I will work closely together over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition.’
Shaw’s decision to step down follows a spate of legal exits from Barclays, including EMEA GC Erica Handling, who recently took up a position at BlackRock, global head of financial crime Jonathan Peddie, and global corporate and investment banking GC Judith Shepherd, since it streamlined its legal function. The bank is seeking to create pools of lawyers working across its four core business divisions, instead of running separate legal divisions for its personal and corporate, Barclaycard, investment bank and Africa businesses.
During his time at Barclays, which has seen the bank investigated over manipulation in the Forex and Libor markets, Shaw has held a number of management titles. He is a current member of the firm’s citizenship council, legal senior leadership group and the disclosure advisory group, which advises the company on what has to be included in Stock Exchange announcements. He is also a past chair of the legal division’s diversity and inclusion committee.
Shaw joined Barclays at the end of 2009 from Herbert Smith, where he had been a corporate partner for over 12 years. At Herbert Smith he advised investment banks on Rio Tinto’s hostil bid for BHP Billiton and EDF on its takeover bid for British Energy.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
