Barclays Capital (BarCap) and Barclays Corporate have merged their in-house litigation functions, with Barclays' global retail banking (GRB) litigation head Stephanie Pagni taking up a new role leading the merged team.

Pagni, who has been on secondment to BarCap since June, is set to take up the newly-created role of director of litigation services for the bank's corporate and investment banking divisions in the New Year.

The position will see Pagni leading a combined team of 10 in-house lawyers, equally split from both business units, as well as a number of secondees.

The changes will only affect the bank's litigation lawyers and will not have an impact on external legal advisers. GRB director of litigation and special investigations Jonathan Peddie is looking to replace Pagni as retail head of litigation.

Pagni commented: "Barclays Capital and Barclays Corporate are two distinct businesses but there are certain services, such as the provision of litigation support, which work more effectively to the benefit of those businesses when delivered in a more holistic way."

She added: "This is a team of litigation specialists providing dedicated services to their respective business areas while retaining the advantages of a shared team."

The shuffle comes after a number of changes within Barclays' in-house legal team. Last month Toby Billington joined as head of legal for Barclays Business – which deals with accounts for UK businesses, with turnover of up to £5m. Billington, who was most recently senior counsel and compliance officer at SVB Financial Group, has previously held roles including GC of Gulf International Bank (UK) and The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

Meanwhile, former Barclaycard GC Mark Edwards took up a role as GC of UK retail banking after the summer, reporting to Mark Chapman.