Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (often shortened to Debevoise) is an
international
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
-trained William Stevenson, the firm was originally named “Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean”. Debevoise specializes in private equity, M&A, insurance and financial services transactions, private funds, complex litigation, investigations, and international arbitration. In 2021, the firm assisted the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
in the
second impeachment trial of Donald Trump
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, began on February 9, 2021, and concluded with his acquittal on February 13. Trump had been impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives ...
. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious law firms in the worl
Overview
Debevoise & Plimpton currently employs approximately 769 lawyers in nine offices throughout the world. The firm divides its practices into three major areas: Corporate law, Corporate, Litigation, and
Tax
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
. In recent years, the firm's practice has taken on an increasingly international component.
Debevoise & Plimpton has offices across three continents, locations include
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
. In 2016, Debevoise opened a new office in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
. On June 1, 2020, Debevoise & Plimpton announced the opening of an office in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
.
Debevoise is the only law firm in the world to have both a former US and UK Attorney-General simultaneously as partners (
Michael Mukasey
Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009.
Born in New York City in 1941, Mukasey attended Ramaz School, gradua ...
Debevoise & Plimpton is consistently among the most profitable large law firms in the world on a per-partner and per-lawyer basis according to ''
American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.
Francis T. P. Plimpton
Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton (December 7, 1900 – July 30, 1983) was an American diplomat, New York City lawyer, partner at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton and a president of the New York City Bar Association.
Early life
Plimpton was born ...
joins to form Debevoise, Stevenson & Plimpton
* 1936: Robert G. Page joins to form Debevoise, Stevenson, Plimpton & Page
* 1943: Firm merges with Hatch,
McLean
MacLean, also spelt Maclean and McLean, is a Goidelic languages, Gaelic surname Mac Gille Eathain, or, Mac Giolla Eóin in Irish language, Irish Gaelic), Eóin being a Gaelic form of Johannes (John (given name), John). The clan surname is an A ...
, Root & Hinch
* 1947: Firm renames as Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean
* 1949: Firm loses Hiss Case
* 1981: Firm renames as Debevoise & Plimpton for 50th anniversary
* 2017: Former Chair of the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against marke ...
Attorneys from Debevoise & Plimpton worked on behalf of prisoners held in
extrajudicial detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. Jeff Lang, of Debevoise & Plimpton, was one of the first
Guantanamo Bay attorneys The Center for Constitutional Rights has coordinated efforts by American lawyers to handle the habeas corpus, and other legal appeals, of several hundred of the Guantanamo detainees.
Only American lawyers have been allowed to visit detainees at t ...
to file an appeal in the Federal appeal court in Washington DC of prisoners'
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were estab ...
proceedings. The
Detainee Treatment Act of 2005
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA) is an Act of the United States Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on 30 December 2005. Offered as an amendment to a supplemental defense spending bill, it contains provisions re ...
included provision for prisoners to challenge whether the Tribunals' decisions complied with the Tribunal's mandate. Charles "Cully" Stimson, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, stirred controversy when he went on record criticizing the patriotism of law firms that allowed employees to assist Guantanamo prisoners: "corporate CEOs seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists." Stimson's views were widely criticized. The Pentagon disavowed them, and Stimson resigned shortly thereafter.
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
was in breach of her
image rights
Personality rights, sometimes referred to as the right of publicity, are rights for an individual to control the commercial use of their identity, such as name, image, likeness, or other unequivocal identifiers. They are generally considered as ...
Louis Begley
Louis Begley (born Ludwik Begleiter; October 6, 1933) is a Polish-born Jewish American novelist. He is best known for writing the semi-autobiographical Holocaust novel ''Wartime Lies'' (1991) and the ''Schmidt'' trilogy: ''About Schmidt'' (1996 ...
Federal District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
Judge,
Eastern District of Michigan
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (in case citations, E.D. Mich.) is the United States district court, federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State o ...
Andrew Ceresney
Andrew J. Ceresney is an American lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton and a former government official who served as director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement.
Biography
Ceresney graduated from Columbia Colle ...
, former head of enforcement at
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith
Peter Henry Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith (born 5 January 1950) is a British barrister and a former Attorney General for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland. On 22 June 2007, Goldsmith announced his resignation which took effect on 27 J ...
, former
Attorney General for England and Wales
His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales is one of the law officers of the Crown and the principal legal adviser to sovereign and Government in affairs pertaining to England and Wales. The attorney general maintains the Attorney G ...
and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, and current head of European litigation practice at Debevoise & Plimpton.
* John Gleeson, former judge
*
Tali Farhadian
Tali Farimah Farhadian Weinstein (born in 1975 or 1976), is an American attorney, professor, and politician. She is a former federal and state prosecutor and was a candidate in the 2021 New York County District Attorney race.
Born in Iran to a ...
, former federal prosecutor and candidate for
New York County District Attorney
The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...
*
Harold H. Healy Jr.
Harold Harris Healy Jr. (27 August 1921 – 4 March 2007) was an American lawyer who had a distinguished career in international law. A graduate of Yale University (1943), where he was a member of Skull and Bones, and Yale Law School (1949), he w ...
Michael Mukasey
Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009.
Born in New York City in 1941, Mukasey attended Ramaz School, gradua ...
, former Attorney General of the United States
*
Jed S. Rakoff
Jed Saul Rakoff (born August 1, 1943) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Education
Rakoff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 1, 1943. He grew up in ...
Lorna G. Schofield
Lorna Gail Tiangco Schofield (born January 22, 1956) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Biography
Schofield was born January 22, 1956, grew up in New Haven, Indiana, and ...
, judge
*
Joan Wexler
Joan Gottesman Wexler (born 1946) is an American attorney who is a former dean and president of Brooklyn Law School. She is also a former president of the Federal Bar Council.
Education
Wexler attended Cornell University, (B.S., 1968), Harvard ...
(born 1946), Dean and President of
Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty.
Brookly ...
Édouard Philippe
Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 ...
Mary Jo White
Mary Jo White (born December 27, 1947) is an American attorney who served as the 31st chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 2013 to 2017. She was the first woman to be the United States Attorney for the Southern District o ...
See also
*
White-shoe firm
A white-shoe firm is an American term used to describe prestigious professional services firms that have traditionally been associated with the upper-class elite who graduated from Ivy League colleges. The term is most often used to describe leadi ...
s
*
List of largest law firms by profits per partner
This is a list of global law firms by profits per equity partner (PPEP) in 2020.
These are estimates and equity partners can make vastly different salaries inside the same firm.
See also
*List of largest law firms by revenue
*List of largest U ...
*
Francis T. P. Plimpton
Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton (December 7, 1900 – July 30, 1983) was an American diplomat, New York City lawyer, partner at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton and a president of the New York City Bar Association.
Early life
Plimpton was born ...