Zurich-based ACE Limited announced Wednesday that Joseph Wayland, a former assistant attorney general, would become General Counsel for the global insurance organization.

Effective July 8, 2013, Wayland will be responsible for the company’s global legal affairs including providing counsel on a full range of legal and business issues to the CEO, senior management team and board of directors, as well as leading the legal organization that supports the company’s business operations globally, ACE said in a statement.

Wayland will report to Evan G. Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of ACE Limited, succeeding Robert Cusumano in the GC role. Cusumano is leaving the company to pursue other interests, ACE announced previously.

Wayland joins ACE from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he worked from 1988 and became a partner in 1994. He returned to the law firm in 2012, after a two-year stint United States Department of Justice, where he first served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General responsible for litigation for the Antitrust Division, and then as the Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Division.

Earlier in his career, Wayland served as a captain in the United States Air Force.

He received his juris doctor degree from Columbia University Law School and his undergraduate degree from Washington University. He also holds a master of laws degree in international and comparative law from Georgetown University Law School.

Source: ACE Limited