May 28 (Reuters) - Michael Holston, the former general

counsel at General Electric ( GE ), will join U.S. law firm Paul,

Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner, the firm said

on Tuesday.

General Electric ( GE ) had disclosed in a March regulatory filing

that Holston, who served as its top lawyer since 2018, would

depart amid the company's completion of its breakup into three

separate energy, healthcare and aerospace companies in early

April.

Prior to GE, Holston was general counsel at Merck and

Hewlett-Packard. He also worked as a federal prosecutor and as a

partner at other law firms.

Holston said that while he has known some Paul Weiss lawyers

for years, he got to know the firm better through Paul Weiss'

work advising GE on the spinoff.

GE completed its breakup last month, marking the end of the

132-year-old conglomerate that was once the most valuable U.S.

corporation and a global symbol of American business power.

Holston led the legal separation of the GE businesses, the

company said in its March U.S. Securities and Exchange

Commission filing.

It listed his total 2023 compensation at over $8.2

million, including base salary, annual bonus and stock-related

awards.

Holston said he will be based in New York and Washington,

D.C., when he starts at Paul Weiss in October. He said he

anticipates working on "complicated and messy matters that have

multiple prongs," such as big transactions, crisis litigation

and government investigations.

Paul Weiss, a top New York-founded law firm, has been on a

hiring spree of high-profile partners in New York, London and

elsewhere.