Greenberg Traurig pulled in Dennis Block, one of the country’s leading M&A lawyers, who's leaving Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft after 13 years.  Mr. Block, 69, has advised on some of the largest deals ever, including Pfizer’s $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth and JPMorgan Chase’s purchase of Bear Stearns. The hiring reflects the great demand for lawyers with big, established books of business, and firms are backing up their aggressive recruiting with record pay packages.

“He will help move our team into the ranks of the foremost M.&A. practices.  We envision an exciting time of growth and collaboration, in which Dennis will play a pivotal role.” -- Richard Rosenbaum, CEO of Greenberg Traurig.

Elsewhere.    Last month, O’Melveny & Myers lost 9 corporate partners that have large PE firm Apollo Global Management as a prized client - 7 went to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison;  2 went to Weil Gotshal & Manges.  Earlier in the year, DLA Piper hired James Wareham, a litigator in Washington, and is paying him more than $5mn a year.

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Dennis Block will... chair Greenberg Traurig's global mergers and acquisitions practice and is to join the firm this week.  This is the 2nd career move for Mr. Block who, in 1998, he made headlines when he left Weil, Gotshal & Manges - where he had spent three decades - for Cadwalader.  At the time, Mr. Block told New York magazine that it was the lawyer, and not the law firm, that mattered to clients.

After graduating Brooklyn Law, Mr. Block went to Weil where he counsel 1980s dealmakers including Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman.  He's a considered the epitome of workaholics, and is known for keeping some of the longest hours in the business - starting at 6:30 a.m. and leaving way past dinner time.  At Greenberg, Mr. Block is expected to work closely with Bruce Zirinsky, who also left Cadwalader in 2009 to join Greenberg, where he co-heads the firm’s restructuring practice.   [Dealbook, 9/8/11]