Everton Football Club's head of legal services Chris Anderson has left to join fellow Premier League club Brighton Hove & Albion FC.

Anderson started work at Brighton this Monday (30 October) in the new role of head of legal and commercial. The club was promoted to the Premier League this summer after 34 years outside of English football's top division.

Anderson's new position is broader than that of a traditional general counsel, in that he will oversee all Brighton's commercial and marketing activities, as well as legal and compliance. He will also join the club's operating and executive committees, and will report directly to chief executive Paul Barber.

Brighton currently has a compliance manager, but Anderson has become the club's first in-house lawyer, and will be responsible for setting up its legal department, as he did at Everton after joining from Brabners in 2014.

Anderson said: "Everton is a wonderful club to be a part of. I really enjoyed my time there, but it was an out-and-out legal role.

"In my new role, I take responsibility for other aspects such as the commercial and marketing sides of the business and I felt like that was a good career progression. Brighton is an exciting club to be a part of and has a great future."

Everton has not yet decided on a permanent replacement for Anderson, with senior legal adviser Amy Wells handling his responsibilities in the meantime.

Anderson was also previously an M&A associate at Slaughter and May, after starting his career at legacy Scots firm Dundas & Wilson (now CMS). While at Slaughters, Anderson helped advise longstanding client Arsenal on its 2009 purchase of Russian midfielder Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St Petersburg for a reported fee of £15m.

Earlier this year, he turned to Slaughters for advice on Everton's plans to build a new £300m stadium, and has also worked with Gateley on the club's sponsorship deals.

This summer he advised on the £75m sale of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United during a busy summer of transfer activity for the club, which has recently parted company with manager Ronald Koeman after just two wins from its first 10 games of the season.

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