The Co-operative Bank has extended the contract for its interim head of legal, Claire Morris, by another six months.

Former Nationwide Building Society deputy general counsel Morris is now set to stay with the bank until at least the end of 2015.

She was first appointed for a six-month period in January, but will now remain in the post for the rest of the year to help "continue the bank's turnaround journey".

It is understood that Co-op has not yet put out an active search for a full-time replacement for Morris.

Morris was the second successive interim appointment to the position following Eversheds' James Southworth, who returned to his firm after holding the post for a year before Morris.

The other recent senior legal appointments at the bank, however, were both permanent hires.

Tim Buckingham, head of Eversheds' financial services disputes and investigations team in Leeds, was bought in as head of litigation in February, while Adam May joined from financial services group Close Brothers as head of treasury legal in the second half of 2014.

Under bank GC and former CMS Cameron McKenna lawyer Brona McKeown, Co-op has reshaped its legal team into three areas: non-contentious, litigation and treasury legal.

Morris leads the largest of those teams, non-contentious legal, which has around 13 lawyers including a group dedicated to the sale of the bank's non-core assets.

Buckingham's litigation team numbers around five lawyers.