Sarah Venus has joined the Medical Protection Society as director of claims and legal services from Zurich Financial Services, where she was head of technical claims.


Stephen Sutton, former senior partner of Sutton-Owens in South Shields, has been appointed director of legal services at Reversionary Property Consortium.



Helen Hart, senior legal counsel at the AA in Farnborough, has moved to telecoms technology company palmOne as legal counsel for the Europe, Middle East and Africa division. She will be responsible for commercial contracts, marketing, intellectual property and general compliance.



Former general counsel at Hewlett Packard, Jackie Wright, has joined the legal team at Transport for London. She will take on Fiona Smith's role as general counsel while Ms Smith takes extended leave, due to return in April.



Investment bank Merrill Lynch's head of corporate, Carolyn Hay, has joined bank Alliance & Leicester as head of legal. She replaces Katherine Hughes, who decided not to return after a period of maternity leave.