BP has promoted America general counsel Eric Nitcher to the top legal role, replacing outgoing global legal chief Rupert Bondy.
Nitcher has relocated from the US to London to serve as the oil giant’s group general counsel, having also acted as BP’s senior associate general counsel for disputes and regulatory matters.
He joined the company in 1990 and has worked on matters such as the formation of BP’s merged Russian business TNK-BP, as well as the settlement of the Deepwater Horizon litigation.
BP announced internally before Christmas that Nitcher would succeed Bondy, with the lawyer taking on the role from the start of this year.
Bondy announced he was leaving BP last year after serving in the role since 2008. He is set to become Reckitt Benckiser’s general counsel.
Bondy ran a review of BP’s UK legal panel in 2011, when he appointed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters to the top spots on the roster.
The move will see Bondy return to the pharmaceutical sector, having first moved in-house in 1995 as a senior counsel for SmithKlike Beecham. He became general counsel of the newly-merged GlaxoSmithKline in 2001.
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