Barclays has restructured its in-house legal function with appointment of Sue Brooks to the new position of chief of staff.

Brooks, who was formerly chief operating officer (COO) at Barclaycard Technology, will support general counsel Mark Harding in her new role.

The role combines the position of chief of staff and COO work and comes after the departure of Barclays COO Paul Idzik, who left the bank in May 2008.

News of the appointment comes as the bank kicks off a panel review which is expected to be completed during the summer.

Barclays traditionally operates a number of panels around its core areas of legal work including structured capital markets, lending and finance and wealth advisory. In addition, the bank operates a general advisory roster which includes Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and DLA Piper.

Brooks's appointment follows a number of in-house moves in the banking world over the last few months.

In the wake of Commerzbank's takeover of Dresdner Bank earlier this month, Guenter Hugger and John Benson were appointed as the respective global and London legal heads for the combined entity.

In December, Brian Moynihan was named as the new general counsel of Bank of America on completion of the bank's purchase of Merrill Lynch.

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