Angelee J. Harris has joined Opus Bank as EVP, general counsel and has been appointed to Opus’ executive committee.

Harris is responsible for managing the legal affairs of Opus Bank, as well as the coordination, oversight, and management of Opus Bank’s retained counsel. She succeeds Carlton Langer, who served as interim general counsel since joining Opus in November 2018.

“We are very pleased to have Angelee join our executive team. Angelee is a highly regarded attorney, who has been representing financial institutions for 20 years in a wide variety of corporate, regulatory, and securities matters. Her leadership experience, insight, and deep knowledge of the financial services industry will be of tremendous benefit to us and our long-term strategy,” said Paul Taylor, chief executive officer and president.

He added, “We thank Carl for his service as interim general counsel over the past year, during which time the bank resolved several legacy issues and completed the search for a new general counsel.”

Harris joins Opus from Banc of California, where she most recently served as executive vice president, general counsel. From 2008 until 2012, Harris served as partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where she focused on corporate securities law. From 2005 until 2007, she served as executive vice president, general counsel of Placer Sierra Bancshares, the publicly traded holding company of Placer Sierra Bank, a California commercial bank with more than $2 billion in total assets.

In 1999, Harris joined Manatt as an associate and was appointed partner of the firm in 2004. During this period, Harris was focused on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, and securities law compliance. She began her legal career as an associate with Lehman, Jensen & Donahue in Salt Lake City.