Tyco recruits from within for healthcare and electronics division legal heads; Starbucks hires Thurston as first ever UK-based legal chief; and former Alcatel-Lucent GC becomes Motorola head of legal. Michelle Madsen reviews the latest key in-house moves

Tyco draws from own talent pool for new European heads of legal

Tyco has drawn from its own ranks to fill new European heads of legal roles for its recently separated healthcare and electronics divisions. Tyco Electronics named veteran Tyco International counsel Christoph Zeyen as its European legal head and Covidien, Tyco's new healthcare division, appointed Michelangelo Stefani.

Formerly Tyco International's deputy general counsel in Europe, Zeyen now reports in to Giles White, the US-based deputy general counsel of Tyco Electronics. He and his team will have responsibility for all commercial and treasury work, while all intellectual property work for the company is being carried out by a separate group of lawyers.

Zeyen, who has been with Tyco for more than a decade and is now based in Brussels, is set to restructure the legal department, growing teams of lawyers in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland.

Stefani, who is now stationed in Luxembourg, is also understood to be arranging his legal team across different countries in the region. Meanwhile in Florida, Tyco International compliance counsel Francisco Hernandez was named regional general counsel for Latin America.

He replaced Armando Tirado, who left the company on 29 June after Tyco cut back its legal operations in the region. He will report in to corporate secretary John Jenkins. Tirado is yet to confirm his next destination.

Tyco Electronics and Covidien separated from Tyco International earlier this year to form three publicly-traded companies, with Tyco International including the company's fire and safety and engineered products units.

Tyco is one of the world's largest companies, with nearly 250,000 employees and annual revenues of $39bn (£19bn). Earlier this year Tyco International's European general counsel, Trevor Faure, slashed the conglomerate's panel of external legal advisers from nearly 240 firms down to just one. In the £8m deal, Faure announced that Eversheds would be the company's main provider firm for mainstream legal advice.

Starbucks appoints ex-MFI man as first UK legal head

MFI general counsel Adrian Thurston has left the homeware giant to become Starbucks' first ever UK-based head of legal.

Thurston left his post as general counsel for MFI legacy company Galiform on 3 August and now reports in to Craighton Goeppele, Starbucks' Amsterdam-based managing director of corporate counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Thurston was previously the sole in-house lawyer at MFI and took on the role of Galiform general counsel following the sale of the MFI furniture business. His appointment leaves Galiform, which changed its name following the disposal of MFI Furniture last October, with no permanent in-house counsel. The company is yet to replace Thurston and has a temporary lawyer filling in.

Before Thurston's appointment, coffee giant Starbucks had previously turned to outside counsel for UK legal work, instructing Clifford Chance, Baker & McKenzie and Wragge & Co among others, from its European headquarters in Amsterdam.

MFI Furniture was sold to private equity group Merchant Equity Partners in October last year for a token £1. SJ Berwin advised the private equity group, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised MFI.

Pitceathly steps in to Motorola role

Former Alcatel-Lucent general counsel Richard Pitceathly has been appointed vice president and regional director of Motorola.

Pitceathly, who was law vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Lucent for nine years before the company merged with Paris-based Alcatel, became law vice president for northern Europe when the two companies merged last year.

Maryann Clifford, head of ethics and compliance for EMEA, took on the role in the interim and is now based in Chicago in Motorola's head office.

Pitceathly reports in to Clifford and replaces Palwinder Hare, who left Motorola earlier this year after seven years at the company.

Motorola has more than 200 lawyers worldwide and annual revenues of almost $43bn (£22bn) globally.

Chinese giant Alibaba appoints Freshfields' Steinert as new GC

Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba Group has named Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partner Timothy Steinert as its new general counsel.

Steinert, who specialises in overseas stock offerings of Chinese companies and cross-border M&A, is set to leave Freshfields at the end of the month. In his new role he will report to Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma.

Prior to joining Freshfields' Hong Kong office in 1999, Steinert had stints at Davis Polk & Wardwell in Hong Kong and New York and legacy firm Coudert Brothers in New York and Beijing.

Alibaba is the largest e-commerce business in China, with 200 million registered users and annual revenues of $68m (£34m).

BBC taps Farrer & Co for in-house media specialist Alway

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

Alway left Farrers last month and has since joined the BBC's six-lawyer programming team, led by in-house lawyer Valerie Nazareth.

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

The move follows a series of high-level internal moves within the BBC's legal team, including Sarah Cooper's promotion to chief operating officer at BBC Worldwide and senior corporate lawyer Peter Raynard's appointment to the role of assistant general counsel in May.

Pegasystems hires Briedenstein for EMEA legal director role

Nils Breidenstein left BEA Systems as its general counsel in August to join business process management company Pegasystems as its director of legal for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific regions.

Breidenstein has become Pegasystems' first in-house lawyer in the UK and his new position will see him support and build up Pegasystems' operations in Asia and Europe.

Breidenstein's appointment sees Pegasystems locate its first in-house lawyer on UK shores, with the legal function for the EMEA region being previously provided by the legal team in Pegasystems' US headquarters.