Debevoise & Plimpton LLP today announced that M. Natasha Labovitz has joined the firm as a partner in its New York office and a member of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group. Ms. Labovitz is a seasoned corporate restructuring practitioner and brings significant financial restructuring experience and legal skills to Debevoise, further strengthening the firm’s highly ranked practice. She has particular expertise as debtor’s counsel, having acted as lead debtor counsel in several of the largest chapter 11 cases filed in recent years, including Chemtura Corporation and TOUSA, Inc.

International law firm Dechert LLP announced today that Wall Street veteran, Vivian Maese, has joined the firm’s Intellectual Property Group as a partner in New York, and will be responsible for leading the global Outsourcing and Offshoring (O&O) practice. Maese joins Dechert directly from her role as the global head of Morgan Stanley’s Workforce Strategy and Solutions team.

Davis Polk advised underwriters represented by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC in connection with the offering of $2 billion aggregate principal amount of notes issued by Lockheed Martin Corporation. The notes were offered in three tranches maturing in 2016, 2021 and 2041.

Global law firm White & Case LLP represented the US Department of Energy (DOE) in connection with a US$150 million loan guarantee for 1366 Technologies, Inc., a company that develops multicrystalline wafers used in solar cells. The funding will help 1366 Technologies expand its manufacturing capabilities in Massachusetts and build a second US production facility. The company’s innovative manufacturing process, called Direct Wafer, reduces four separate manufacturing steps into a single, continuous process and could significantly reduce wafer manufacturing costs.

Experienced corporate finance lawyer Fradyn Suárez joins Hunton & Williams LLP as a partner in its Miami and New York offices from Mayer Brown LLP, where she was a partner in the firm’s New York office. Throughout her career, Suárez has represented a diverse client base in connection with a broad array of business and regulatory matters, most involving cross‐border complexities involving Latin America, the Caribbean and other emerging markets.

In another noteworthy addition to its work on behalf of emerging companies, Venable LLP has added experienced corporate and venture capital attorney Anthony Saur as a partner to its Corporate group in New York.  He arrives from the New York office of DLA Piper.

The global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, announced that Dennis J. Block is joining the firm as Senior Chairman of its Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice as of September 12, 2011. Block joins Greenberg Traurig from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, where he was a Senior Partner in its Corporate Practice group.

Morgan Lewis today announced that Bradley Edmister, a dealmaker experienced in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and capital markets transactions in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, joined the firm as a partner in its Business and Finance Practice, resident in New York. Mr. Edmister returns to New York following nearly a decade living and working in Tokyo, where he advised leading Japanese and global corporations and financial institutions on numerous prominent M&A and securities transactions throughout Asia.

Smith, Gambrell & Russell announced today that six attorneys have joined the firm’s New York office from Fox Rothschild LLP: Joseph M. Pastore III, William M. Dailey, Paul R. Dehmel, Michael A. Zamat, Leanne Murray Shofi and Jennifer R. Shufro.

David Burton has joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as a partner in the firm’s tax and project finance and renewable energy practices.