Baer, 48, will tackle new finance-industry laws and manage corporate legal matters, ranging from mergers and acquisitions to securities filings.
Baer managed similar responsibilities at Bank of America, where he was deputy general counsel overseeing the regulatory group.
Baer joined Bank of America in 2006. He is a former partner at the Washington based law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr. He also worked in the Clinton administration at the Treasury Department and as a managing senior counsel at the Federal Reserve Board. He graduated in 1987 from Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Some report that Baer’s departure will hinder Bank of America's efforts to improve its standing in Washington, D.C. Mr. Baer was a central figure in the bank's dealings with regulators and elected officials during the financial crisis, assisting with its repayment of $45 billion in U.S. aid. Mr. Baer also played a key role in trying to influence the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed earlier this summer.
Baer became a target for anti-Wall Street activists earlier this year when hundreds of protesters organized by labor unions and community groups swarmed his home in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, chanting: ''Bank of America, bad for America.''
The Chicago-based grassroots organization National People's Action, in coordination with the SEIU, bused more than 700 workers from 20 states to Baer's neighborhood, one of the wealthiest corners of Washington. The action kicked off several days of protests targeting K Street for lobbyists' role in financial reform.
