Publishing company Penguin Random House has promoted deputy group legal director Sinead Martin to head its legal team, as UK and international legal director Helena Peacock steps down from her role.
Peacock is retiring in June after 23 years in-house at the publisher and after overseeing its merger with Random House in 2013.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May advised alongside four US firms on the 2013 deal between Pearson and its media rival Bertelsmann to combine both companies’ publishing units.
Peacock, who joined Penguin in 1993, has held a variety of in-house roles including company secretary and then legal director for Penguin and DK in 2000. She took on the role of HR director alongside her legal responsibilities in 2006 and was then promoted to be the group legal director of the merged Penguin Random House in 2013.
Martin joined Random House in 2006 from a senior solicitor role at Sky. As senior legal counsel at Random House, she was responsible for pre and post publication legal issues. She was promoted to legal director in 2011, managing the Random House legal team with overall responsibility for publishing and commercial legal work. In 2013, she was appointed to her current role.
Martin will take charge of the legal team on 1 July and will report to group finance director Mark Gardiner.