One of the highest-profile M&A attorneys of the past few decades, Dennis Block, 69, joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as senior chairman of its global mergers and acquisitions practice. He reunites with Bruce Zirinsky, with whom he worked for decades at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, who is co-chair of Greenberg Traurig's global business reorganization and financial restructuring practice.

Lazard confirmed what was first reported in July: Former Greenhill & Co. banker Timothy George has joined Lazard as a managing director in its financial advisory business in New York. George was a founding partner of Greenhill, a member of its management committee and a banker on deals such as Novartis AG's acquisition of Alcon Inc., and Wendy's International Inc.'s sale to Nelson Peltz's Triarc Cos. Before helping form the advisory boutique in 1997, he ran Morgan Stanley's global food, beverage and consumer products group under Robert Greenhill, now 75, the namesake founder of Greenhill & Co. and investment banking great. George left Greenhill suddenly in July, part of a rash of high-level defections from the firm, which triggered a selloff of the stock. George received his undergraduate and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Chicago.

After about 28 years running Caxton Associates LP, Bruce Kovner is retiring from the $10 billion hedge fund at year's end. In 2008 Kovner made Andrew Law chief investment officer and has tapped him for the chairman and CEO role. Co-founder and president Peter D'Angelo will also retire.

Evercore Partners Inc. recruited Tim Carlson as a senior managing director in Houston and Sean Murphy as a senior adviser in Chicago. Carlson, most recently a managing director in J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s global natural resources group, will advise oil and gas companies. Murphy, a longtime corporate dealmaker at Abbott Laboratories, where he spent 30 years, most recently as corporate vice president and head of business development and M&A, will advise healthcare clients. He led more than $30 billion in transactions for Abbott, including recent acquisitions of Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc., Advanced Medical Optics Inc. and Guidant Corp.'s vascular business.

Adam Berger is heading to Wells Fargo & Co. as head of healthcare M&A. Berger had served as head of M&A at Boston healthcare investment banking shop Leerink Swann LLC since 2008. Before that he spent 17 years at Citigroup Inc., where he ran healthcare M&A. He was previously a managing director in M&A at Salomon Brothers, where he spent more than eight years. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Stuart Epstein, who has worked at Morgan Stanley since 1984, will join NBC­Universal Media LLC as chief financial officer in mid-October. He had previously been a managing director and global head of Morgan Stanley's media and communications group and responsible for the casino gaming and education businesses. Epstein is a longtime adviser to Comcast Corp. He played a key role in the formation of the $37.5 billion joint venture with General Electric Co. to create predecessor company NBC ­Universal Inc. Epstein's exit was quickly followed by reports that Morgan Stanley would replace him with Jean Abergel, current media and communications chief in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Max Herrnstein, former head of U.S. media; and Adam Shepard, a former head of U.S. telecom who helped advise Deutsche Telekom AG on AT&T Inc.'s proposed and now-threatened merger with T-Mobile USA Inc.

Bruce Ou rejoined private equity investor Grove Street Advisors LLC as a principal. Ou, a native Mandarin speaker, had worked at the firm as an investment associate after graduating from Williams College. He then worked in Monitor Group's M&A and corporate finance group before attending the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Houlihan Lokey Inc. named Oliver d'Oelsnitz as a managing director and head of its European financial institutions coverage. Most recently, he was a managing director at Pan American Financial Resources LLC, responsible for establishing a portfolio of funds in real estate, infrastructure and debt. Before that, he was a managing director and global head of corporate finance at WestLB AG in London. D'Oelsnitz previously spent 14 years at DZ Bank AG in New York and Frankfurt. D'Oelsnitz speaks English, German and French and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business.

The Los Angeles firm also tapped Weimin Chen as a managing director and head of China, where he will oversee investment banking and be responsible for developing corporate finance, financial advisory and financial restructuring businesses. Chen spent more than four years at Lazard's China unit, where he was director of the Beijing office. Before Lazard, he was CFO of Trina Solar Ltd., where he helped manage the transition to a U.S.-listed public company. Chen also worked at DBS Bank Ltd. in Hong Kong, responsible for M&A in China, and for ABN Amro Corporate Finance in Hong Kong and Barclays Capital in London. He started his career at Sinochem Corp., primarily in London.

Reinout Koopmans joined Jefferies & Co. as a managing director and co-head of European equity capital markets in the investment banking division. He will work from London and partner with David Weaver in leading European ECM. Weaver is also head of European capital markets and president of Jefferies International. Koopmans hails from Deutsche Bank AG, where he spent 10 years and was most recently head of equity capital markets for the natural resources sector. Previously, he was head of equity capital markets for emerging markets. Before Deutsche Bank, Koopmans spent six years at McKinsey & Co.

Harris Williams & Co. tapped Michael Wilkins as a managing director to lead the technology, telecom and digital media group's efforts on the West Coast. Wilkins was a managing director at Sagent Advisors Inc., where he co-founded the firm's tech practice. He had previously worked in the investment banking groups of Wachovia Securities LLC, Wasserstein Perella & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Piper Jaffray & Co. made four appointments in San Francisco. Michael Kim will join as a managing director in October, focusing on software investment banking. Kim arrives from Stone Key Partners LLC, a tech M&A boutique, which he co-founded. Previously, he worked at Bear Stearns Cos. and Morgan Stanley. Deepak Chugh, who hails from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., where he worked in semiconductor investment banking, will handle electronics. Piper relocated managing director Michael Hirsch to focus on the Internet and digital media, and vice president Greg Klancher to electronics and Internet.

AlixPartners LLP said John Griffin will join as a senior adviser to help expand the firm's global media and marketing services practice. Griffin, who earlier this year founded Empirical Strategic Advisors LLC, was previously CEO of Time Inc., president of Meredith Corp.'s Meredith National Media Group and president of Advance Publications Inc.'s Parade magazine division.

Vincent Reinhart will join Morgan Stanley as chief U.S. economist in New York. Reinhart was a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. From 1990 to 2007, he held senior positions at the Federal Reserve, including as secretary and economist of the Federal Open Market Committee.

In its financial institutions investment banking group in New York, RBC Capital Markets hired Dominic Capolongo as a managing director and head of U.S. specialty finance, and Jonathan Bayer as a managing director in its U.S. insurance practice. Capolongo will report to Henry Michaels and Jerry Wiant, co-heads of U.S. FIG, while Bayer will report to Marc Berman, head of the U.S. insurance practice. Capolongo had run FIG at Cantor Fitzgerald LP, focusing on specialty finance. He spent most of his banking career at Credit Suisse Group's FIG team and was also co-head of the diversified financials group at Jefferies & Co. Bayer joins RBC from UBS, where he was a part of the FIG team focused on insurance. Before that, he was a member of Deutsche Bank AG's FIG team.

CIBC World Markets Inc. named Chris Gratias and Matthew Quinlan co-heads of global mining investment banking. Gratias had run Canadian mining and was global head of precious metals mining at Morgan Stanley. Quinlan joined CIBC in 2007 and has been acting co-head of the mining team since April. He will also continue to co-head the Vancouver office with Kathy Butler. Thys Terblanche was named a managing director and international mining head. He joined CIBC last year from Standard Bank plc, where he worked for nine years and was head of global mining. David Scott, who has been co-leading the global mining team on an interim basis, returns to his full-time role as vice chair, global investment banking. Neil Johnson, managing director and head of Australia mining investment banking in Sydney, was named vice chair. Joe Matthews, executive director, global mining investment banking, was appointed head of Australia mining investment banking.

Hamilton Lane will open an office in Rio de Janeiro to act as asset manager in Brazil and hired Ricardo Fernandez Silva Jr. and Filipe Caldas as vice presidents from the Brazilian office of Capital Dynamics.

Vinson & Elkins LLP elected partners Mark Kelly and Scott Wulfe as chairman and managing partner, respectively, of the firm for a two-year term starting Jan. 1. They succeed Joe Dilg.

Jones Day added Hervé Castelnau as a partner in its Paris M&A practice. He joins from Norton Rose LLP with counsels Thibaut Kazemi and Silvain Fock-Yee, and associate Alice Nepa.