Movers & shakers: May 18, 2009

David Fox and Daniel E. Wolf of New York's Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP have joined Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Fox (pictured) spent more than 20 years with Skadden. He recently counseled Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc. on its $438 million cash sale to Johnson & Johnson; Landmark Communications Inc. on its $3.5 billion sale of the Weather Channel to NBC Universal Inc., Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC; and private equity firms LS Power Equity Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners on their $9.4 billion bid for Canadian power producer TransAlta Corp.

Wolf, who made partner at Skadden at 30, worked with Fox on BHP Billiton Ltd.'s $150 billion bid for Rio Tinto plc. Fox was a leader of Skadden's corporate group and had been a member of its policy committee.

Energy rainmaker Natasha Tsukanova, head of Russia and CIS investment banking at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., has left the bank. J.P. Morgan confirmed the departure and wished her well. The bank didn't say where she was headed, but Reuters, citing a source close to Tsukanova, said Igor Sechin, Russia's top energy official, asked her to informally advise the government on energy-related foreign mergers and acquisitions. Tsukanova spent 12 years at J.P. Morgan.

Before that, she worked for the Russian Privatisation Ministry and for Boston Consulting Group in London and Moscow from 1992 to 1996.

Evercore Partners Inc. said Mark Friedman joined the firm's advisory business as a senior managing director in New York to co-lead its transportation practice.

Friedman will also establish and lead a shipping advisory business.

Previously, he was head of U.S. transportation and infrastructure at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and was global head of its shipping investment banking business. Friedman also worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

In March, the firm recruited George Ackert for its advisory business as a senior managing director to establish and lead the transportation and infrastructure practice. Ackert, in New York, is also leading the development of a sports advisory business. Ackert was previously global head of transportation and infrastructure at BofA-Merrill. Before the merger, he ran the gaming, leisure and transportation group at Merrill.

A month before Ackert's move, Robert Gillespie, a 27-year veteran of UBS, joined Evercore's advisory business as a senior managing director in London. Gillespie was vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank and a member of the group managing board. He was joint global head of investment banking from 1999 to 2005.

Check The Deal Pipeline for updates on these Movers & shakers:

• FBR Capital Markets Corp. expanded its institutional brokerage business, launching a credit sales and trading platform.
• CNA Financial Corp., which announced a restructuring, is looking to fill several positions.
• Fennebresque & Co. recently hired Stephen Saunders as a managing director.
• Behrman Capital said Robert Flaherty joined the firm as an operating partner.