Uber's EMEA general counsel Jim Callaghan has stepped down after a little more than a year in his role.

Callaghan joined the taxi-hailing app in April 2016 and was based in its Amsterdam European headquarters.

Before joining Uber he was general counsel and company secretary for Etihad airways for seven years, having previously been director of legal and regulatory affairs at low cost airline Ryanair.

Callaghan is stepping down for family reasons and Uber has yet to appoint a successor.

Before making the move in-house, Callaghan was a senior associate at Linklaters for three years in Brussels. He also worked in Pittsburgh for US firms Balzarini Carey & Watson and Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

His departure comes as the company restructures its global legal department after general counsel Salle Yoo was promoted to chief legal officer. It is seeking a new GC to handle daily legal and regulatory work.

The changes come as Uber has become embroiled in a number of legal issues. These include an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against a former employee, its trade secrets fight against Google self-driving subsidiary Waymo, and a recently announced US Justice Department investigation into Uber's use of regulator-skirting software.

Earlier this year, Uber completed its EMEA panel review with DLA Piper, DWF and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) winning spots.

The panel was put out to tender at the end of 2016 and most of the process was handled by the US in-house legal team. Uber also has a separate US panel for all of its Stateside legal advice.

Callaghan's departure is the latest in a string of Uber executive exits including president Jeff Jones, vice-president of communications and policy Rachel Whetstone, and vice-president of product growth Ed Baker, among others.