Northrop Grumman has appointed a new general counsel with a senior hire from defence rival BAE Systems, reports Corporate Counsel.

The world's number one shipbuilder and leading defence contractor has recruited Sheila Cheston from BAE, where she was an executive vice president responsible for strategy and planning, finance, M&A, and all legal matters associated with BAE's US-based operating groups.

Cheston (pictured) will join Northrop on 30 August, replacing Stephen Yslas, who is stepping down as general counsel on 29 August. Yslas will continue as a corporate vice president until he officially retires at the end of the year.

Cheston will oversee all of Northrop's legal matters and will report to Wes Bush, the company's CEO and president, while she will also join the company's corporate policy council.

She has extensive legal experience of working for defence companies and the US Government, and was general counsel for BAE Systems North America from 2003 to 2007. Before that, she was a partner at US law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, where she chaired the firm's international aviation, defence and aerospace group.

Cheston has also held key leadership positions with the US Government. She served as general counsel of the Department of the Air Force from March 1995 to October 1998, and was also chief legal officer of the Department of the Air Force.

From April to September 1994, Cheston was special associate Counsel to former US President Bill Clinton.

Corporate Counsel is a US sister title of Legal Week.