Crédit Agricole SA and Société Générale SA will combine their asset management operations. The new entity will combine Crédit Agricole's entire asset management arm, CAAM, and the European and Asian activities of SocGen's asset management business, SGAM, as well as 20% of TCW Group Inc., its asset management unit in the U.S.

SocGen will appoint one-third of the directors of the new board. The chairman will be named by Crédit Agricole and the vice chairman by Société Générale. Yves Perrier (pictured), chief executive of CAAM, will become CEO of the new entity, which will be 70% owned by Crédit Agricole.

ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial services firm, said Michel Tilmant will step down as CEO and will be an adviser to the company until his retirement on Aug. 1. Jan Hommen, chair of the supervisory board of ING Group, will become CEO.

Eric Boyer de la Giroday, a member of the executive board since 2004, will serve as acting CEO until Hommen can formally take over at ING's annual shareholder meeting on April 27. From 1975 to 1997, Hommen worked for Alcoa Inc., becoming CFO in 1991. Later, he was vice chairman and CFO of the board of Royal Philips Electronics NV.

CVC Capital Partners enlisted Larry Klane as a senior adviser on the global financial institutions team. Klane was president of the global financial services division of Capital One Financial Corp. Previously, he was a managing director at Deutsche Bank AG and ran the corporate trust and agency services business at Bankers Trust Co.

SL Capital Partners LLP appointed Whit Matthews as an investment manager, private equity. Before this, Matthews was an investment associate, PE and absolute returns, with the University of Pennsylvania.

K&L Gates LLP welcomed tax lawyer Thomas Lyden as of counsel in Washington. He has covered real estate mortgage investment conduits, real estate investment trusts, structured finance and regulated investment companies. Lyden also spent 12 years with the Internal Revenue Service, five of them as a branch chief of the agency's financial institutions and products division.

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP hired four attorneys from Jenner & Block LLP for its intellectual property practice in New York. Led by partner Joseph Diamante, the team includes partners Ronald Daignault, Kenneth Stein and special counsel Richard An. Before Jenner & Block, they worked at Jones Day and IP boutique Pennie & Edmonds LLP.

Workplace law firm Jackson Lewis LLP tapped Elayna Youchah as a partner and head of litigation for the Las Vegas office. She was a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP.

Thomas Finke joined Axiom as general manager of its Chicago office. Most recently, Finke worked at Tribune Interactive. Earlier, he was a senior associate at Sidley Austin LLP, covering merger and acquisition transactions and public securities offerings.

Keith Ghezzi joined the healthcare group of Alvarez & Marsal LLC as a managing director in Washington. Before this, he founded Ghezzi & Associates LLC and was its principal for 10 years.

Hogan & Hartson LLP said Chuck Rosenberg, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, joined the firm's Washington office as a partner in the litigation practice. He will focus on federal white collar criminal defense, internal investigations and civil litigation. Rosenberg has also worked at the Department of Justice and as counsel to FBI Director Bob Mueller.

Bryan Cave LLP elected Broderick Johnson as a partner in Washington. He is the chairman of Bryan Cave Strategies LLC and will establish and lead the firm's new public policy and governmental affairs client service group. As a private sector lobbyist from 2000 to 2007, Johnson was vice president for congressional affairs with AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., where he worked with the Democratic leadership in Congress.

In Philadelphia, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP brought in litigator Colm Connolly as a partner. Connolly, who was U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware since 2001, will focus on corporate investigations and white collar matters.

Plaintiffs lawyer Richard Schiffrin joined Grant & Eisenhofer PA as of counsel. Schiffrin founded his own firm in Philadelphia in 1987, which grew into 55-attorney Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler LLP.

Duane Morris LLP named seven partners in its trial practice: Richard Darke, Damon Fisk, Anthony Gallia, Michelle Gervais, Matt Neiderman, Junghye Yeum and Matthew Yungwirth.

Other partners include corporate attorneys Giles Cooper and Nicholas Isaacson; Jeffrey Chamberlain and Vanessa Hew, intellectual property; Joseph Lemkin, business reorganization and financial restructuring; and Jay Ferguson, employment and immigration.