Following a significant restructure of its internal legal function, Japanese investment house Nomura has brought back from retirement former Linklaters chief executive Terence Kyle as its new general counsel for Europe. The hire brings to an end Nomura's 12-month search for a successor to former head of legal David Mee, who quit the bank in late December 2002 and left in March 2003.

Mee's departure coincided with a significant restructure of Nomura's transactional legal team, whereby 30 of Mee's transactional lawyers were directed to report to the bank's head of risk management David Benson, a non-legal board member. In a related move at the time, Nomura also lured back its former head of transactional legal Tom O'Riordan, who had quit the investment bank the previous June to practice in the London office of US firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.

O'Riordan and head of corporate Mark Chapman will both report to Kyle, who spent 34 years at Linklaters before retiring from the firm in July last year.