News Corporation has made two senior appointments to fill newly-created legal roles.

Former Office of Fair Trading (OFT) international legal head Andrea Appella has joined the media organisation – which owns a range of titles including The Times and Sky TV – as director of legal, competition and regulatory affairs for Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, corporate lawyer Angelina Elliott has joined after leaving Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer last year, taking on the position of director of legal affairs for Europe and Asia.

Both Appella and Elliott will report to Jeff Palker, general counsel for Europe and Asia.

Having commenced his career with Herbert Smith, Appella worked for MTV Europe, Warner Bros and Time Warner Europe – where he rose to vice president and associate general counsel for Europe – before joining News Corp last month. His new role will see him focus exclusively on competition and regulatory matters.

Elliott, who began her new role in May, spent nine years at Freshfields as an associate in the firm's corporate team. At News Corp she will oversee corporate and transactional work across Europe and Asia.

The OFT is currently recruiting for a replacement for Appella. Earlier this month, it announced a number of hires, including that of competition lawyer Sarah Berwick, who joined as director of competition law from AkzoNobel, where she was global competition counsel.

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