JP Morgan Chase & Co has appointed a senior banking lawyer to a newly-created brief to deal with a raft of financial regulatory reforms occurring around the world, writes Corporate Counsel.

The US banking group this week (8 September) announced the hire of Gregory Baer, a deputy general counsel at Bank of America Corporation, to the new post.

In a memo to staff, JP Morgan general counsel Stephen Cutler wrote that Baer will be joining the firm at the end of September as managing director and general counsel for corporate and global regulatory. Baer will report to Cutler while splitting his time between New York and Washington DC.

"Greg brings with him a wealth of experience from the private and public sectors," Cutler said, citing Baer's role in overseeing Bank of America's regulatory group and providing legal support to the bank's marketing group as well as for the finance, risk and global strategy unit.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Baer's move "complicates Bank of America's efforts to improve its standing in Washington" because Baer was a key figure in that bank's dealings with regulators and elected officials during the financial crisis.

The Journal said he helped arrange the repayment of $45bn (£29bn) in US bailout funds, and worked to influence the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed in July. Baer will be dealing with a broad range of regulatory reforms contained in that act.

However, Bank of America passed over Baer for its top legal position in mid-2009 and instead chose another deputy general counsel, Edward O'Keefe.

Prior to joining Bank of America in 2006, Baer was a partner at US firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, representing companies on financial regulatory and enforcement matters. From 1997 to 2001, he was assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury Department, and he also served as managing senior counsel at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Cutler said four unit heads will report to Baer. They are Kathy McCulloch, GC for regulatory law; Neila Radin, GC for M&A, private equity and corporate law; Ed Biddle, head of government compliance; and Lynn Goldstein, GC for privacy.

In an announcement on Thursday (9 September), Bank of America said it has named deputy general counsel Lauren Mogensen as corporate secretary to replace Alice Herald, who retired as a deputy GC after 32 years at the bank.

Mogensen is a Boston-based lawyer with career ties to chief executive Brian Moynihan. The bank said the change was unrelated to Baer's departure.