The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) General Counsel, Sean Hagan, will retire at the end of October, Managing Director Christine Lagarde announced today.

Mr. Hagan has worked at the Fund for 28 years, including almost 14 as General Counsel and head of the Fund’s Legal Department. He has announced his intention to take up a position in academia.

“During Sean’s tenure at the Fund, he made his mark on virtually every aspect of the Fund’s work,” Ms. Lagarde said. “Sean’s significant policy achievements, undertaken in collaboration with colleagues, include modernizing the Fund’s lending toolkit, integrating its surveillance processes, articulating the Fund’s policies on sovereign debt, and devising multilateral debt relief for highly indebted low-income countries.

“Under Sean’s stewardship, the Legal Department has actively promoted the rule of law in the Fund’s member countries in a number of areas, including the development of the Fund’s approach on anti-money laundering, combating terrorist financing and addressing corruption and improving governance, coupled with extensive technical assistance,” Ms. Lagarde said. “His efforts to raise the profile of ethics and integrity both inside and outside of the Fund also stand out as both innovative and admirable. He will be sorely missed by all of us at the Fund and beyond.”

Mr. Hagan joined the IMF’s Legal Department in 1990 and rose through the ranks to be appointed General Counsel in 2005. Prior to the IMF, he was in private practice, first in New York and subsequently in Tokyo. He received his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center, a Master of Science in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Kings College, University of London. The search for a replacement will begin shortly.