Channel 4 general counsel Prash Naik is stepping down from the position after three years in the role.

Naik, who joined the broadcaster in 1994, has held a variety of positions at the TV company, including senior lawyer and head of legal and compliance.

Channel 4 – which will now begin the process of appointing a successor – named Naik as its first ever general counsel in January 2014. He took on responsibility for the channel's corporate legal team, while retaining his existing compliance responsibilities.

His appointment took place amid a shake-up of the broadcaster's in-house team, which also saw the creation of the role of controller of business affairs.

Naik is due to depart the company in August to move to Australia, where he will work for television and film producers in London and Sydney.

Law firms to have worked with Channel 4 in recent years include Reed Smith, which successfully defended the broadcaster and production company IMG Media in 2013 in a discrimination case brought against them by racing pundit John McCririck.

The firm is a longstanding adviser to Channel 4, having acted for the broadcaster in its talks to form a joint venture with BBC Worldwide in 2009.