LeBoeuf partner returns to in-house roots with ITV job

ITV has appointed LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae corporate partner Andrew Garard as its legal director to replace the outgoing Kyla Mullins.

Garard, who has spent most of his career in-house, leaves LeBoeuf after just one year in private practice, as first reported on www.thelawyer.com (20 September).

Garard told The Lawyer: “I’ve enjoyed private practice, but it’s confirmed to me that lawyers are either suited to industry or to private practice. While you can make the transition, your heart either lies in one or the other.”

Garard will take the reins from Mullins on 1 November and will be reporting to ITV’s chief operating officer and finance director John Cresswell.

Garard will also have a seat on ITV’s executive board.

The ITV role will be Garard’s third role leading a FTSE100 legal team. Prior to joining LeBoeuf, Garard was general counsel at Cable & Wireless. Before that he was general counsel at Reuters.

Garard said: “Having met John Cresswell and his team, it was too compelling an opportunity to turn down.”

Mullins announced her departure earlier this year. She was formerly legal director at Granada and had been appointed as ITV’s legal director following its merger with Granada in 2003.

LeBoeuf chairman Steve Davis said: “We’re going to miss him but we’re thrilled. It looks like a wonderful opportunity. He’s a very talented individual. We’d have him back any time.”

LeBoeuf London managing partner Peter Sharp said: “It's been very interesting having Andrew as a partner because he’s taught a lot of us more about what it means to be a general counsel for a FTSE100 company and what people in that position are looking for in their law firms. He’s a very capable lawyer and he’s decided that it’s in-house lawyering that he really wants to do.”

Dewey will wait until its merger with LeBoeuf is complete before making a decision on whether to replace him.