The latest appointments within hedge funds and funds of hedge funds as well as related service industries.

Offshore law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman has announced the appointment of Elizabeth Denman, Callum Harper and Anton Goldstein as associates to the firm's corporate team. Denman and Harper have joined the Bermuda practice and Goldstein has joined the British Virgin Islands practice. Denman specialises in all aspects of corporate and commercial law with an emphasis on mutual and hedge funds, partnerships and securities. Harper's practice includes all aspects of corporate and commercial law with specialist expertise in structured finance and corporate finance transactions. Goldstein concentrates on all aspects of corporate law with specialist expertise in private equity and hedge funds.

Global offshore law firm Walkers has expanded its Jersey office. Ian Gobin and Charles Lee join from the London. Gobin has been named the head of private equity for Jersey and Lee joins Walkers' Jersey investment funds team. With more than eight years of experience in Walkers' Grand Cayman and London offices, Gobin specialises in setting up and advising private equity funds and hedge funds. Lee joined Walkers' London office in 2007, primarily focusing on hedge funds and private equity funds, as well as general corporate matters and structured finance transactions. Previously he worked as a solicitor in London and Sydney.

Northern Trust has appointed Madhu Gayer as head of investment risk & analytical services for asset servicing (IRAS) clients in the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Hong Kong, Gayer will be responsible for IRAS client relations, sales and product development in the APAC region. Previously Gayer was with Kapstream Capital in Sydney, Australia.

Tokio Marine Asset Management London, the Japanese and Asian equities and hedge fund specialist, has appointed Paul Butler to the newly-created role of compliance manager. Butler has over 11 years of experience in working in the financial markets with a particular knowledge of alternative investments and hedge funds. Previously he was at Goldman Sachs Asset Management for almost 10 years.

Nomura has completed the build out of its European oil and gas equity research team with the appointment of Alastair Syme and James Talbot from Merrill Lynch and Michael Alford, from Morgan Stanley. Syme will cover the European oil majors and lead a team of four sector experts based in London. Talbot joins as an industry specialist and Alsford will provide lead coverage of oil and gas exploration and production companies. Iqbal Naseem will be responsible for coverage of European oil services companies and Ryan Kauppila will follow European refineries. This announcement closely follows the appointment of Amit Roy as head of pharmaceuticals research from Citigroup and Julian Mitchell as head of industrials research, previously at Och Ziff and Credit Suisse.

GBST has appointed Terry Williams as chairman of GBST Europe and as an advisor to the GBST board of directors. He brings significant entrepreneurial and industry experience to GBST. From 2002 to 2008 Williams spearheaded UK based software house Coexis's transformation into a provider of technology solutions for global markets, initially as CEO and later as executive chairman. GBST provides securities transaction and fund administration software for the financial services industry.

Markit has appointed Neil McPherson as a managing director in New York to manage and expand its structured finance pricing services. He joins from NewOak Capital, an advisory, asset management, and capital markets services company.

Conifer Securities, a hedge fund service provider and prime broker, has appointed Jon Karis as director of prime brokerage services. Karis's recent experience as a top executive at Morgan Stanley's prime brokerage unit creates significant opportunity for Conifer to capitalise on the emerging trends in the prime brokerage industry.

Butterfield Fulcrum, an independent administrator for the alternative investment industry, has appointed T Andrew Smith as global head of business development and marketing. Smith will be based in the company's New York office and will oversee Butterfield Fulcrum's teams in Europe, Asia and North America. Most recently he served as a managing director and head of North America in global transaction services at Citi overseeing a $1 billion securities and fund services region.

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has removed George Luckraft from the Skandia UK Strategic Best Ideas fund. This follows the decision by AXA Framlington to close its Absolute Return UK fund. As a result Luckraft no longer manages money on a long/short basis and so SIG has decided to reallocate his UK Strategic Best Ideas mandate between the remaining specialist long/short managers in the fund.

Legal & General Investment Management (Holdings) has appointed Hugh Cutler as head of distribution. He joins from Barclays Global Investors where he was co-head of the global strategic solutions group.

Hermes BPK Partners has appointed Mark Smith-Lyons as chief operating officer. Formerly he was head of change management, fund services at Crosby Forstyth and previously head of operational relationship management at Invesco Perpetual.

Insparo Asset Management has appointed Jon Laidlow as its chief operating officer. He will take over an expanded COO role, which has been widened to include responsibility for all the company's financial operations, working alongside the company's founders Mohammed Hanif and Francis Beddington. Laidlow joins from quantitative hedge fund manager GSA Capital Partners where he was finance director

Marc Baum has been named general counsel and partner at Offit Capital Advisors. Previously he was a managing director, the general counsel and chief compliance officer for Ramius, a global alternative investment company.

Babson Capital Management, an investment management company based in Springfield and Boston, Massachusetts, and Charlotte, North Carolina, has added four team members to its global business development group New to the group are Mark Sullivan and Jeffrey Stammen who join the group's sales team and will be based in Los Angeles and New York, respectively. Joshua Leventhal and Loren Sageser join as product managers and will be based in New York and Charlotte, respectively. Babson and its subsidiaries manage over $107 billion (at March 31, 2009) for institutional investors in the US and abroad

Fleming Family and Partners Capital Management has appointed Spring Capital Partners to assist with the marketing and client service of its fund range in the UK market. FCM is a specialist investment business within a UK multi-family office. Initially, Spring will be focussing on introducing FCM's two European equity absolute return funds:

Managed Funds Association (MFA), the US trade association of the alternative investment industry, has named D Brooke Harlow as executive vice president and managing director of marketing and communications. Previously she was managing director of communications and public affairs at Highbridge Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund.

INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles, has made three appointments to its management board: Michael Morgenroth, management board member, Gothaer Asset Management, Germany; Jeff Jacobson, chief executive officer, LaSalle Investment Management, UK; and Deborah Lloyd, partner, Nabarro, UK. Jan-Willem de Geus, managing director, Morgan Stanley and founding member of INREV, has stepped down from the board following his relocation to Singapore.

BLM Partners has added Jason Carley and Gero Wendenburg to the partnership, which was founded in March 2009. Carley was most recently the senior portfolio manager for the BlueMountain Global Value Fund, a credit-focused special situations hedge fund. At BLM he will focus on credit private financing-related investment opportunities. Wendenburg is currently an executive board member of Germany1 Acquisition, the first special purpose acquisition company to be raised exclusively for the European marketplace.

Deloitte has appointed Ali Kazimi as a partner to its funds advisory team. Formerly he was the head of investment and operational taxes at Ernst & Young. He will be leading Deloitte's asset pooling offering.