Movers & shakers

Movers & shakers: May 24, 2012

by Baz Hiralal

Joseph A. Walker returned to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. as a vice chairman of investment banking. He spent time with the bank in South Korea and Japan and worked in New York from 1989 to 1997, helping to build its mergers and acquisitions franchise, which he co-headed for three years. From 1998 to 2000, Walker was global head of technology, media and telecommunications investment banking. He was a member of the investment bank's management committee and was on the board of Hertz Corp. from 1997 to 2001. He became a senior adviser to General Motors Co. in 2001, working on corporate finance, capital budgeting and restructuring issues related to GM's automotive businesses, including, Hughes, Fiat, Isuzu, GMAC and Onstar, as well as the divestiture of DirecTV Inc. Walker later co-founded KW Advisors.

Separately, J.P. Morgan hired William McLucas to assist in probes of its credit derivatives trading loss. He is chair of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP's securities department, a member of the securities litigation and enforcement practice and a member of the Dodd-Frank whistleblower working group. He has been with WilmerHale since 1998.

In 1977, McLucas joined the Securities and Exchange Commission's division of enforcement. He served under five successive chairmen of the SEC, eventually becoming director of enforcement for eight years. He has been on the special committees of Enron and WorldCom, and more recently advised the special committees of the boards of Nortel Networks Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Global Infrastructure Partners tapped James Jenkins as a managing director in New York. He will head the investor relations group and coordinate certain limited partner activities in evaluating prospective co-investment opportunities with GIP's second investment fund, GIP II. Jenkins was most recently with hedge fund King Street Capital Management. He was previously a reorganization and leverage finance specialist at Credit Suisse Group and began his career at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

CIT Group Inc. named Neil Wessan as a managing director and group head of CIT Capital Markets. Wessan was head of capital markets for Gleacher & Co. Before that, he was a founding principal at Halsey Lane Holdings LLC and was a managing director and co-head of Jefferies & Co.'s leveraged loan capital markets and syndications group.

Dan Coppel joined Jones Day's London office as a partner in the mergers and acquisitions practice. He joins from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP.

Greenberg Traurig LLP tapped Hyun Chung as a shareholder in its New York corporate and securities practice, focusing on the firm's practice in South Korea and throughout Asia. Prior to this, Chung was director and counsel at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, where he advised on structured products and derivatives. He was previously a senior corporate attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP welcomed two lawyers to its corporate and securities practice in New York: partner Joseph Seiler III and of counsel John Weber Jr. from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP. They counsel insurance companies on securities offerings and financings, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance and U.S. federal and state tax issues.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP said Harry Clark and Clark McFadden, formerly of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, joined the firm's corporate practice as partner and senior counsel, respectively, in Washington. Clark was co-head of Dewey's international trade practice.

Healthcare partner Jill Gordon joined Nixon Peabody LLP's Los Angeles practice. She was previously vice chair of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP's health law practice.

McCarter & English LLP announced that Thomas Stevens joined the firm as a partner in the intellectual property and information technology practice in Wilmington, Del. Stevens was assistant general counsel, global IP litigation, at AstraZeneca plc and formerly a senior deputy attorney general in Delaware's Department of Justice.

Clippings from the next column:

-- City National Bank taps U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management's Richard Limekiller as a senior vice president and senior portfolio manager in New York.
-- Roundup of where Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP partners are heading.

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