Morgan Stanley reorganises legal function

As well as the appointment of Keith Clark to the new role responsible for Asia Pacific, Japan and Europe, the investment bank has made sweeping changes across the department.
The three general counsels for the regions who will report to Clark previously reported to chief legal officer Donald Kempf directly.
In an internal statement from Kempf seen by The Lawyer, he said the changes were a result of July's senior leadership conference, his own observations and the tragedy at the World Trade Center.
In the statement he said: "Our new structure is designed further to enhance the integration of the law division and to facilitate the continued delivery of superior services to our clients."
Clark's new job will see him reporting directly to Kempf and serving as a member of the executive committee of the bank in Europe. He will have responsibility for institutional securities law groups in the three markets he is charged with.
Richard Rosenthal in London, who is head of legal and European general counsel, will report to Clark when he takes up his new role at the start of next year.
Clark said: "I'm basically responsible for the international legal function and a member of the executive committee which manages their European business. It's a combination of legal and business focuses and that's attractive.
"It's quite interesting - there are lots of similarities between the top level law firms and the top level investment banks. They are all about very talented people giving private services to clients. There are far more similarities than differences between the world I'm leaving and the world I'm joining."
The other changes in the department include a raft of new internal appointments. Ralph Pellecchio is to take up a new role of general counsel for strategic initiatives looking at significant projects and assignments for the firm.
Kempf said in the memo: "Some of the complex legal issues the firm faces would benefit from more concentrated focus."
On the compliance side, David Elston will replace Stuart Breslow as the global compliance director as Breslow is moving to become director of global compliance at Credit Suisse First Boston. Elston was previously operations officer for the law division, and has been replaced in that role by Lisa Anselmi.
A new group has been set up called banking, credit and regulation which will have responsibility for the Utah Bank, credit, entity regulation and documentation. That group will be headed by Jane Carlin, who will report directly to Kempf.
Therewill also be a combination of various business units into a new group called securities, and that will be headed up by Robin Roger.
A new position has been created for a chief regulatory counsel for retail which will be Mike Stone, with responsibility for working with regulators on the retail business.
And finally, the public company group has been renamed corporate and the technology, intellectual property and e-commerce group will become part of it.
A Morgan Stanley spokesperson declined to comment on the information in the memo.