[ By Howard Haykin ] FINRA lowered the boom on its 2 top, long-standing, legal advisers, and will replace them with a former SEC Director.  Marc Menchel, FINRA EVP and General Counsel for Regulation will leave FINRA 6/1, after about 10 years on the job.  T. Grant Callery, FINRA EVP and General Counsel, who also will leave - in early October - had started with NASD back in 1979.  [See C-I account on FINRA's announcement in Monday's WHO's News, "Robert Colby ...".] Dow Jones first reported the departures and new hire late Friday.  We have not yet heard the reason for the change, but will investigate and report back when we do. Marc Menchel's Career. Marc Menchel, a friendly and gregarious individual - and a real stereophile - was among the group's top-paid executives in 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available.  He received $1.2 million for 2010, including a $401K salary and $400,000 bonus.  Marc was a frequent speaker about regulatory and compliance issues at industry conferences. Asked by Reuters about the termination, Marc answered that after working on regulatory issues at Washington, D.C.-based FINRA for 10 years, "it was time to do something else." He has not yet decided his next step, he said. Prior to joining NASD, which became FINRA, Marc Menchel worked at Boston-based Tucker Anthony and prior to that, was with Thomson McKinnon Securities, where he was with Compliance then Legal. Menchel and Callery will be replaced ... by former top U.S. SEC official Robert Colby, who was hired by FINRA to be the group's new chief legal officer. Colby joins from the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP where he has worked since 2009, most recently as a partner.  Mr. Colby had served as a deputy director of SEC's trading and markets division. For further details, go to:  [Reuters, 5/7/12].