Wall Street veteran George "Woody" Young III is now global head of technology, media and telecommunications investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. Young arrives after his noncompetition clause with Lehman Brothers Inc. expired.

Young left Lehman in March 2007, where he was head of the global communications group, a member of the investment banking division executive committee, and a member of the strategy committee. He also served as chairman of the firm's senior client council. Young joined Lehman in 1994 from First Boston Corp.'s mergers and acquisitions group.

UBS Investment Bank enlisted John Metz as a managing director and head of U.S. communications banking in the technology banking group. Based in San Francisco, Metz will report to Brian Webber, global head of technology banking. Metz spent the last decade at Credit Suisse Group, where he was head of the communications banking group.

3i Group plc appointed Bob Stefanowski (pictured) as managing partner and chairman, 3i North America, effective Sept. 15. Stefanowski was most recently, president and CEO of GE Corporate Finance Europe, responsible for mergers and acquisitions, structured finance and other capital market activities.

America's Growth Capital hired Rex Sherry as a partner and co-head of West Coast investment banking. Before this, he was a senior managing director and head of West Coast technology banking for Bear Stearns Cos. Previously, Sherry was vice chairman of technology investment banking and the global head of semiconductor investment banking for Merrill Lynch & Co.

Private investment firm Quadrangle Group LLC hired Steven Davidson as chief financial officer. Previously, he was a managing director at Mourant Ltd., a global third party fund administrator. Before that, Davidson worked at Bisys Alternative Investment Services, J.P. Morgan Private Bank and Coopers & Lybrand LLP.

New York-based wealth management firm Rockefeller & Co. tapped Loraine Tsavaris as a managing director of the firm, reporting to president and chief executive James McDonald.

Tsavaris joins Rockefeller after 37 years with U.S. Trust, where she was most recently a managing director and principal of the multi-family office group.

Pali Capital Inc. expanded its high-yield team in New York, adding salespeople H. Michael Miller and Stephen Dodd, and credit specialist Kevin Ziets. Both directors, Miller joins from Chatham Asset Management, and Dodd from Piper Jaffray & Co. Ziets joins as a director and credit sector specialist. He is a former vice president for global investment research at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

In Dubai, Chadbourne & Parke LLP will tap project finance lawyer Richard Keenan as a partner. He will arrive from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP in London.

Also, international partner Mark Pring, insurance and reinsurance and arbitration, relocated to Dubai in August while maintaining an office in London. Infrastructure partner Sohail Barkatali will move to Dubai at the beginning of October.

McCarter & English LLP said Gaytri Kachroo, a transactional lawyer focused on cross-border deals with India, has joined the firm's Boston office as a partner. She was formerly a partner with Burns & Levinson LLP, and has worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP.

Alvarez & Marsal hired five managing directors: Ann Cairns, head of the financial industry advisory services group in London, was CEO of the transaction banking unit of ABN Amro NV. Ramon Tisaire leads the performance improvement team in Spain. He was a managing director of CapGemini. Colin Leisk joins the firm's practice in France. Colin was an executive committee member of IBM Corp.'s worldwide innovation and PLM solutions. He also covered operations management at Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. Walter Bickel worked at Kroll Talbot Hughes Germany and, before that, was a managing director with Droege & Co. International Management Consultants, where he led the global restructuring and turnaround practice. Before A&M, Gerald Corbae was managing partner of the London office of Droege & Co. Additionally, managing directors Stefaan Vansteenkiste and Scott Pinfield will head the U.K. turnaround and restructuring practice. Douglas Rosefsky will serve as co-head of the turnaround and restructuring practice in France alongside managing director Patrick Puy.

Max Frangulov, a senior director, was named co-head of the Russia practice, along with Peter Briggs. Managing director Sankar Krishnan will oversee the Middle East and India practices, and senior director Rakesh Chopra will serve as co-head of A&M's India practice.

Commercial litigator and media and entertainment attorney David Stern joined Winston & Strawn LLP's Los Angeles office as a partner. He was previously a partner at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP.

Benelux law firm NautaDutilh launched a Benelux restructuring and insolvency team. The team will be led by Robert van Galen, practice group manager of the firm's corporate department.

Kirkland & Ellis International LLP announced that Jane Scobie joined its London office as a partner in the tax practice. Scobie hails from the London office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where she was a senior associate.

Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP appointed Kevin Cummings as a tax partner. He was previously a senior associate at Allen & Overy LLP.

In May, former Goldman Sachs International tax counsel Michael McKenna joined BLP as a tax partner.