Farrer & Co media partner Nicholas Alway has jumped ship to join the BBC's legal department and become an in-house media specialist in the corporation's programming department.

Alway, who is well-respected and has acted for clients such as Legal Week and the Financial Times, left Farrers last month and has joined the BBC's six-lawyer programming team led by in-house lawyer Valerie Nazareth. A pre-publication specialist, Alway work focuses on reporting restrictions.

Formerly a media partner at boutique firm Crockers Oswald Hickson, Alway joined Farrers with when the two firms merged in 2001. He will now report in to Nazareth and the BBC's global general counsel Nicholas Eldred.