Lloyds Banking Group's group general counsel Andrew Whittaker is leaving the bank after a two-year term, with deputy GC Kate Cheetham stepping up to the lead role.

Whittaker joined Lloyds as group GC in May 2013 following a 13-year stint as legal head at the UK Financial Services Authority, but effectively shared his Lloyds role with Cheetham.

While Cheetham worked full time Whittaker had a flexible contract, working roughly three to four days a week unless required to do more, in a move that demonstrated the changing attitudes towards flexible working at the most senior level of the legal profession. 

LLoyds has no plans to find a replacement for Cheetham's deputy GC role, with a spokesperson saying there are no planned further changes to the structure of the legal team. 

Cheetham, who joined the bank's legal team in 2005, was appointed as the bank's first ever deputy group GC in 2012. 

Whittaker said: "It has always been my expectation that Kate Cheetham would succeed me after I completed my two years with the group."

Earlier this week LLoyds announced that it was going to cut 25 lawyers from its litigation team as it attempts to streamline its processes in light of increased regulatory scrutiny.

It is understood that the redundancies are related to outsourcing plans for the bank's retail and wealth and asset finance litigation teams in a scheme named 'Project Canberra' first announced internally in 2013.

It is also understood that the bank has no imminent plans for further redundancies.