Misys, the global software products and solutions group, has hired the former group general counsel of Cable & Wireless.

As first reported on www.thelawyer.com (10 September), Dan Fitz will join Misys as general counsel and company secretary on 20 October.

Fitz, who is Misys’ first ever general counsel, told The Lawyer: “Misys sees [my appointment] as an evolutionary step for the business. The company has reached a sufficient size and has sufficient geographic scope to have a senior lawyer at operations board level.”

Misys now has four lawyers at group level, including Fitz.

When Fitz joins Misys he plans to review the way in which the company sources legal work. “My brief is to look at the way legal work is provided both by external and internal lawyers,” he said.

Fitz added that a full-scale review was a secondary issue.

Currently, Misys’ principal external legal adviser is Allen & Overy.

Fitz was made redundant in May following a major management shake-up at Cable & Wireless. However, he stayed on at the FTSE 100 telecoms company to ensure a smooth handover to his successor Andrew Garard, the former Reuters deputy general counsel.

Before joining Cable & Wireless in March 1999, Fitz worked in the corporate finance division of Baring Brothers & Co (now ING Barings) and in the London office of US firm Pillsbury Winthrop.

Commenting on the appointment, Misys executive chairman Kevin Lomax said: “The general counsel role is a natural progression for Misys as a group, bringing together a number of disciplines across legal, commercial and company secretarial responsibilities.”