Things will soon change in the Pittsburgh-based legal department of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. After nearly two decades in the general counsel role, Helen Pudlin will retire at the end of the month.

Pudlin assumed the general counsel mantle in 1994, and was appointed executive vice president in February 2009.

“In her 18 years as general counsel, Helen has become more than a trusted legal adviser,” PNC Chairman and CEO James Rohr said in a statement. “Her sound judgment and masterful strategic counsel have been decisive in some of the most important business decisions this company has ever made.”