Engineering giant Siemens has appointed a clutch of seven new general counsel to head up its regional and corporate legal functions.

Legal chiefs for the electronics outfit's corporate, energy, industry and healthcare arms have all been appointed, alongside regional general counsel to look after the Americas, Europe, CIS and cross-sector businesses.

The news marks the first time Siemens has appointed chiefs to lead the separate legal functions.

The sole external appointment sees General Electric (GE) general counsel for Germany Andreas Hoffman switch to Siemens to lead the legal function of its industrial arm. Hoffman will begin in his new role next month.

Former Siemens head of M&A Solms Wittig becomes head of legal for the group's corporate arm. Power generation head of legal services Ulrich Bauer is named energy general counsel, while Robert Kirschbaum and Robert Lupone are appointed general counsel for healthcare and the Americas respectively.

Former Munich head of legal services Sebastian Brachert will look after the company's Europe, CIS, Africa and cross-sector businesses, as well as acting as legal chief for Asia, Australia and the Middle East while the company seeks a full-time incumbent.

The new division legal heads will report to company general counsel Peter Solmssen, who joined the German tech giant from GE Healthcare last September.

That came after Siemens faced a rash of investigations into its business operations that last January saw the company hit with a £261m fine by the European Commission for cartel involvement.

Commenting on the latest appointments, Solmssen said in a statement: "The [new] general counsels will not just give legal advice; they will have a formative role and decision-making function in business operations. Their responsibilities in this key position will go considerably beyond merely identifying risks."