Former O2 UK general counsel Edward Smith has been snapped up by Boldyn Networks as its new GC for UK and Ireland.

Smith returns to an in-house role from DLA Piper, where he has spent the past two years as a consultant. He will be working with Boldyn’s Australian-based group GC and company secretary John Mackay, who has been in the role for 12 years.

London-headquartered Boldyn Networks is a global communications infrastructure business, providing services including private networks, data centres and network consulting services, among others.

Writing on LinkedIn, Smith said: “I’m thrilled to announce that I’m starting a new role as general counsel for UK and Ireland at Boldyn Networks on 4 November 2024… Boldyn Networks is an organisation I’ve admired over recent years, watching its rapid growth in cutting-edge shared network infrastructure across the London Underground, major venues and smart cities. I can’t wait to get going, and to contribute to the company’s continued growth and success.”

He also said he is looking forward to reconnect with former O2 business colleagues including Bill D’Arcy, Abi Todd, Brendan O’Reilly, Paul Osborne, Andrew Conway and Claire Venners.

Smith spent more than two decades at O2, working his way up to become GC in 2011 having initially joined as legal counsel in 2001 before being promoted to head of corporate and commercial in 2006 and then head of legal in 2010. Prior to his time at O2, Smith worked in private practice at Freshfields and Pinsent Masons, where he was a trainee.

After leaving O2 in October 2021, Smith joined Shoosmiths as a partner before jumping ship to DLA Piper.

He added: “Finally, thanks to everyone at DLA Piper, and in particular to Mike Conradi, for their support for the past two years. It’s been an education for me.”

In other recent global tech moves, last month eBay hired Samantha Wellington from human resources tech business TriNet as its new chief legal officer. In August, US chip-maker Credo hired Jim Laufman from robotic process automation developer Automation Anywhere as CLO. And in July, US semiconductor business Lam Research hired Ava Harter as its next CLO from home appliance-maker Whirlpool.