Eversheds litigation and dispute partner James Southworth is set to relinquish his role as interim head of legal at the Co-operative Bank and return to the firm in a full-time role.

Southworth has served as the bank's legal head on an interim basis since January. The Co-op Bank hopes to make a permanent hire in the New Year, at which point Southworth will return to full-time fee earning, following a handover period.

Having previously spent eight months on secondment to the litigation and regulatory team at Barclays Bank, Southworth has developed specialisms in breach of mandate and conversion claims, security enforcement disputes, commercial fraud, asset and sales finance disputes, investigations and contentious regulatory work.

CMS Cameron McKenna lawyer Brona McKeown will remain in post as general counsel and company secretary, supported by a senior treasury manager and a regulatory head, after the bank divided its new in-house legal team into two separate functions in November.

The structure of the bank's legal team requires McKeown to report to chief executive Niall Booker, as well as to Co-op Group general counsel Alistair Asher. Due to conflicts, Asher cannot directly oversee the legal function of the bank's operations.

Earlier this year, the Co-operative Bank also appointed former Slaughter and May partner Laura Cartensen to chair its values and ethics committee.