J.P. Morgan Chase General Counsel to Change Roles -- Update

By Emily Glazer 

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said its general counsel, Stephen Cutler, will step down from his current role and become vice chairman of the firm early next year.

Stacey Friedman, general counsel of the bank's corporate and investment bank, will replace Mr. Cutler, who helped the bank deal with numerous regulatory investigations and settlements since the crisis. For the rest of this year, Ms. Friedman will report to Mr. Cutler as his deputy. She will join the bank's operating committee next year when her new role begins.

Mr. Cutler will act as a "senior adviser" to J.P. Morgan Chairman and Chief Executive James Dimon, other executives and the board of directors, the bank said, adding that he will continue to assist on complex legal issues including matters already in progress.

Mr. Cutler has been an executive with J.P. Morgan's legal group since February 2007. He joined the bank from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, where he was a partner and co-chairman of the firm's securities department. "I tried to convince Steve to stay on as our general counsel for even longer, but he said next year is the right time for him to try something different," Mr. Dimon said in a statement.

From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Cutler was director of enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and led investigations of financial-reporting matters including Enron and WorldCom.

Ms. Friedman joined J.P. Morgan three years ago from law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where she worked with the bank for more than a year on matters ranging from mortgage-backed securities to its purchase of the banking operations of Washington Mutual, the bank said.

"Steve recruited Stacey to our firm and highly recommended her to me and our board as a great successor," Mr. Dimon said in the statement.

Ms. Friedman has led the bank's continuing litigation regarding Washington Mutual, people familiar with the matter said. The bank in early June won a legal battle in its effort to avoid billions of dollars in potential liabilities from its purchase of Washington Mutual Inc.'s banking operations during the financial crisis.

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