Barclays Capital (BarCap) general counsel Jonathan Hughes has left his position to take on a predominantly non-legal front office role with the investment bank.

Longstanding GC Hughes (pictured) was replaced by Judith Shepherd, who took up the post last week having previously served as general counsel of Barclays' global retail and commercial banking division.

Shepherd, who joined Barclays from US law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in 2006, takes over one of the most influential legal roles in investment banking with BarCap last month unveiling an 89% increase in annual profits to £2.46bn.

The business has also benefited from substantial investment from Barclays in recent years, including substantially growing its US operations with its 2008 takeover of the domestic arm of Lehman Brothers.

Barclays refused to comment on Hughes' exact role at this stage.

Meanwhile, Michael Crowl, the former general counsel of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) – which was sold last year to US fund manager BlackRock – has been named as BarCap's regional general counsel for the Americas. He will report to Shepherd and work from New York.

The bank has already kicked off the recruitment process to find a replacement for Shepherd, with both internal and external candidates being considered. Barclays deputy general counsel Michael Shaw, previously a partner with Herbert Smith, is currently covering the role on an interim basis.

Barclays legal team chief of staff Sue Brooks told Legal Week: "The retail bank has a number of geographical and business challenges – so we're looking for someone with skills to manage a number of different stakeholders with prior experience of working across a range of different jurisdictions."

The management moves come after Barclays restructured its 800-strong in-house legal function last January – a process followed in July by the completion of a review of its 11-firm legal panel. Addleshaw Goddard was brought in as a main adviser alongside Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Lovells and Simmons & Simmons.