Spirent:
The IT giant has promoted Paul Eardley to the new position of general counsel. Eardley joined Spirent in 1998 from DLA.

The National Farmers' Union:
Colin Hall has been promoted to chief legal adviser, three months after Richard Vidal left to join the Department of Agriculture. Hall has been with the NFU since 1997.

Liberty:
The human rights group has recruited its first in-house counsel, Shami Chakrabarti. Chakrabarti was a senior solicitor at the Home Office. She will join Liberty in the autumn.

The Football League:
Nicholas Craig has moved from Manchester firm Widdows Pilling to be the first in-house lawyer at the Football League. He will work closely with chief executive David Burns, also a qualified solicitor.

Allied Domecq:
Leonard Quaranto has been appointed general counsel for the Ftse 100 drinks company. Quaranto was formerly general counsel for Europe, Africa and the Middle East of US home care giant Kimberly-Clark (see opposite).

J Sainsbury:
The supermarket giant has appointed Tim Fallowfield as head of legal and group company secretary. Fallowfield, who is due to start in October, has been the company secretary of supply chain service provider Excel since 1994. He will replace Nigel Matthews who is retiring from Sainsbury's after 26 years as company secretary.

Sportal:
Jonathan West has left his role as head of legal at the dotcom company to join start-up Catalyst Media Management. He has taken a non-legal role as joint managing director in the new company.

Vivendi Water Asia:
US law firm Shearman & Sterling has hired Jack Su for its finance practice in Hong Kong. Su leaves Vivendi Water Asia where he was senior vice president and counsel.

Securities and Exchange:
Holland & Knight, the Florida-based firm, has recruited securities litigation expert Stephen Crimmins from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Crimmins, who will be based in Washington and New York, has been deputy chief litigation counsel at the Commission since 1993.