Morgan Stanley Vice Chairman Gary Lynch is turning in his executive washroom key, after 5 years of service to the firm, the last 2 as Vice Chairman.  No successor has been named.  The move was announced in the following memo from CEO James Gorman:

Gary G. Lynch has decided to leave and pursue opportunities outside the Firm. Since May 2009, Gary has served as a Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley based in London. He has been on a number of our Morgan Stanley subsidiary boards throughout the region and has been working as a senior manager advising the Firm on issues of policy and strategy.

As you know, from 2005 to 2010, Gary was our Chief Legal Officer. While Gary’s accomplishments during his tenure are too numerous to list here, we have greatly benefited from his stand-out leadership in vastly improving our relationships with global regulators, navigating our conversion to a financial holding company, and directing the Firm’s efforts resulting in successful resolutions of a number of major litigations and investigations. We will miss Gary’s wise counsel and outstanding business judgment.

Please join me in thanking Gary for his many contributions and wishing him well in his future endeavors.

Mr. Lynch joined M. Stanley as EVP and CLO in late 2005, when John Mack became CEO.  He is said to have taken "his first step out the door" in February 2010, when he stepped down as chief legal officer to focus on the vice chairmanship.  

Gary Lynch goes back a long way with Mr. Mack, who recently stepped down as M. Stanley CEO though he continues to serve as its chairman.  Prior to Morgan Stanley, Mr. Mack was CEO of Credit Suisse, where he hired Mr. Lynch to be the chief legal counsel for that firm in 2001.  At CS, Mr. Lynch is said to have shored up the firm's legal reputation and settled issues with regulators (and claims from clients) relating to the aftermath of the dot-com bust. 

Before joining Wall Street, Mr. Lynch was a partner at Davis Polk & Wardell and was Director of the SEC Enforcement Division in the mid-to-late 1980s. 

Mr. Lynch isn't the first high profile executive hired by Mr. Mack to leave the firm.  Jack DiMaio, another Credit Suisse alum, joined in 2009 to be the global head of interest rate, credit and currency trading and stepped down in January.  At that time, the company also announced the resignation of Charles Johnston, president of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture; Gregory J. Fleming, a key hire by Mr. Gorman, took over his responsibilities.   [NYT Dealbook, 3/4]