Johnson & Johnson executive vice president and general counsel Michael Ullmann will retire after more than three decades with the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company.

He'll be succeeded by longtime J&J in-house attorney Elizabeth Forminard, the company announced Monday. Ullmann will work with Forminard to help with the transition until his retirement at the end of the year.

The change in leadership comes a year after attorneys general from several states announced a $26 billion settlement to resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits against J&J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals and three other companies: AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc.