In-house hires

GROUP deputy general counsel Dominique Bourrinet is to take the chief legal role at Societe Generale (SocGen), a French multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Paris. His promotion will take effect from January 1 2014, once his predecessor Gerard Gardella begins his new post as adviser to the bank’s corporate secretary. Bourrinet has been SocGen’s deputy GC for just three months, having previously headed legal for the corporate and investment side of the bank since 2010. 

DEUTSCHE Bank is hiring Linklaters partner Florian Drinhausen as co-deputy general counsel for Germany and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Drinhausen will join the bank on 1 February 2014, after a decade as a partner at the magic circle firm. Drinhausen has specialised in corporate advice to the telecoms, media and technology sectors during his time at Linklaters. He will be based at Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt office. 

THE Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) has appointed a new general counsel and company secretary to replace outgoing Steven Phillips who retires this year. Michael McGuinty will take over from Phillips in January and will be based in Abu Dhabi, reporting to TAQA’s chief executive officer Carl Sheldon, the company’s former GC. He joins from one of the world’s largest oilfield services companies, Schlumberger. Before joining Schlumberger McGuinty worked for Canadian firms Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg and Cassels Brock & Blackwell. McGuinty will take up a role on the eight-strong management committee in the new year. 

E-COMMERCE start-up Powa Technologies has turned to internet giant Yahoo for the hire of senior in-houser Manu Kanwar as chief legal officer. Kanwar, who is currently head of corporate and commercial affairs at Yahoo, will start work at Powa on January 13, 2014. He is the second in-house legal hire for Powa, which provides an e-commerce platform for retailers. He will report to Powa’s CEO Dan Wagner and will also sit on the company’s board.