Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce that Jay Blaivas has joined the firm as a tax partner in its New York office. Mr. Blaivas has over 20 years of experience and will become a member of the firm’s Federal Tax Group, providing key support to the firm’s REIT, Fund Formation, Real Estate, and Private Equity practices. Mr. Blaivas comes to Morrison & Foerster after spending the last six years at The Blackstone Group. More >>

Orrick announced today that seasoned M&A practitioner Jinsong (“Jeff”) Zhang has joined the firm as a partner in our M&A and private equity practice. Jeff joins from King & Wood Mallesons, where he was a partner resident in New York. He previously served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of CITIC Securities USA, a broker-dealer firm registered with the SEC/FINRA, and the U.S. arm of China’s largest full-service investment bank. Jeff will split his time between our Beijing and New York offices. More >>

Cadwalader today announced that Mark Chorazak has joined the firm’s Financial Services Group as a partner in New York. Chorazak joins the firm from Simpson Thacher, where he was the lead regulatory counsel on some of the largest bank mergers since the financial crisis. More >>

Norton Rose Fulbright today announced that George Baptista, a highly regarded Latin America finance and capital markets lawyer, has joined as a partner in the global law firm’s New York office. Baptista, who joins from Mayer Brown, focuses his practice on Latin America and has extensive experience working with issuers and underwriters on international securities offerings. He also has experience in corporate, multilateral and infrastructure-related financings in the emerging markets. More >>

Bracewell LLP is pleased to announce the expansion of its litigation practice in New York with the addition of a four-person team, including three partners and an associate. Allan N. Taffet, Keith E. Blackman, Joshua C. Klein and Russell W. Gallaro have joined Bracewell from Duval & Stachenfeld LLP, where Taffet chaired the litigation department for more than 15 years. More >>

Holland & Knight announced today that Jonathan N. Halpern has joined the firm as a partner in its White Collar Defense and Investigations practice resident in the New York office. Mr. Halpern served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he was chief of the Major Crimes Unit. He represents companies and individuals in internal and government investigations and defends clients in civil and criminal cases in court. On the defense side, he has represented clients in a range of litigation matters, from criminal prosecutions of securities fraud and healthcare fraud to sexual harassment, gender-based and defamation claims. Most recently, he was a partner at Foley & Lardner in its New York office. More >>

Am Law 100 firm Polsinelli is pleased to announce the addition of prominent technology and intellectual property attorney William A. Tanenbaum to its New York office. More >>

The award-winning Corporate Practice at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has grown once again with strategic additions in the firm’s New York and New Jersey offices. Peter Humphreys joins from Hogan Lovells as a shareholder in both offices. Maya Mitchell joins from King & Spalding as of counsel in the New York office. More >>