UBS has hired Credit Suisse lawyer Maria Leistner to be its wealth management general counsel in Zurich.
Leistner has been Credit Suisse’s managing director and general counsel for international wealth management since last November.
She relocated to Zurich when she took up the post, having spent five years as Credit Suisse’s EMEA general counsel in London.
Since joining Credit Suisse in 2004 as a transactional lawyer, Leistner then went on to become head of the banking legal team before moving on to head up the EMEA legal team. She also served as co-general counsel for investment banking.
Leistner, who will join the UBS legal executive committee and wealth management executive committee, replaces current wealth management general counsel Andrew Williams.
He has been at UBS since 1998 and has held a number of roles in that time, including global head of compliance and EMEA group general counsel. In that time, he is understood to have led UBS’ panel review in 2009, appointing the magic circle, Simmons & Simmons and White & Case to its roster.
Before moving in-house, Leistner worked at a variety of firms as an associate and then senior associate at legacy Wilde Sapte, Weil Gotshal & Manges and legacy LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & McRae.
She was also ranked ninth by diversity networking organisation OUTstanding in 2014 for her sponsorship and support of the bank’s EMEA LGBT network.