Christopher Roman has joined King & Spalding as a partner in its tax practice in New York City, the firm announced today. Roman has extensive experience in the tax issues associated with private equity fund formation and investment, real estate investment trusts and regulated investment companies. He joined King & Spalding from Clifford Chance, where he was a partner in its tax practice.

Avinash “Avi” Ganatra, a corporate lawyer with extensive experience in US and cross-border capital markets, securities and leveraged finance, has joined the global legal practice Squire, Sanders & Dempsey as a partner in its New York office.

Baker Hostetler announced today that and Theodore (Ted) J. Kobus III has joined the firm’s Intellectual Property Group in its New York office. He joins as Partner and national co-leader of the Privacy, Security and Social Media Team. He serves as team co-leader with Partner Gerald J. Ferguson. Kobus comes to Baker Hostetler from Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin.

Davis Polk advised Ramius Trading Strategies LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser, on the launch of the Ramius Trading Strategies Managed Futures Fund, a newly organized, non-diversified series of the Investment Managers Series Trust, a registered open-end management investment company. The fund commenced operations on September 13, 2011, and has approximately $230 million in assets under management.

The global law firm Jones Day is pleased to announce that two lawyers have joined the Banking & Finance Practice in the Firm’s New York Office.

International law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP has announced that David Zeltner and Jane Morgan have joined the firm as partners in the Global Corporate Group in the New York office.

Shearman & Sterling represented the underwriters, led by Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, in an offering of 4,000,000 shares of ExlService Holdings, Inc. common stock at $23.00 per share. Three million of the shares were sold by Oak Hill funds, a 40% holder, and 1,000,000 were issued and sold by ExlService.

Davis Polk advised the initial purchasers and dealer managers in connection with a series of transactions to finance the anticipated spinoff of ITT Corporation’s defense and water businesses. Following the spinoff, ITT, Exelis Inc. (which will operate the defense business) and Xylem Inc. (which will operate the water business) will be three distinct, publicly traded companies.

Akerman Senterfitt has added Wayne Wald as a shareholder and Palash Pandya as of counsel to its Corporate Practice Group in an expansion that includes a total of five senior attorneys in its New York office.

Zuckerman Spaeder LLP is pleased to announce that Steven M. Cohen, who was most recently Secretary to New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, is joining the firm as a partner in its New York office. Mr. Cohen brings to Zuckerman Spaeder a combination of skills and experience in government, politics, and private practice. Mr. Cohen will lead the expansion and development of Zuckerman Spaeder’s New York office, and will focus his practice on crisis management, government investigations and white collar criminal defense, and complex commercial and regulatory matters.