Name one person who deserves to receive $4 million during his first week as the new head of Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Relations.  If you said "Gary Lynch," former chief legal officer at Morgan Stanley and former SEC Enforcement Director, you'd be correct.

Mr. Lynch, who was hired by Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan last April to be the bank’s global head of legal, compliance and regulatory relations, received a stock award worth approximately $4 million from his new employer, a regulatory filing showed.  Mr. Lynch, who began his new job this week, received just over 415,000 restricted stock units on Tuesday.  Those options, would be worth more than $4.1mn if exercised today - although they will vest in 3 yearly intervals beginning on 2/1/12.

In his new position, he's expected to BofA through its myriad legal problems, including claims stemming from its ill-fated 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial.  Last month, the bank agreed to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims with large investors relating to Countrywide’s mortgage-backed securities.

Mr. Lynch Knows Big Settlements.   When Mr. Lynch was with the SEC, he led the investigations of Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky - central figures in the 1980s insider trading scandal.  His investigation of Mr. Milken and his firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert, led to a historic $650 million settlement.

Sitting on the other side of the table, one of Mr. Lynch's first projects as Bank of America's legal representative likely will be to state the bank’s case during talks with the Justice Department, state Attorneys General and several other major banks over its foreclosure policies and other mortgage-related practices.  His job begins the same week the bank is reported to be in settlement talks with bond insurer MBIA over a mortgage-related lawsuit. 

In a memo last week announcing Mr. Lynch’s start date, Mr. Moynihan said, “We are looking forward to Gary joining us and getting immediately involved in the issues we are addressing.”   [Dealbook, 7/14/11]