Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, commonly known as Davis Polk, is an American multinational
law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...
headquartered in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
,
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
,
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
,
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, and
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
. The firm maintains an all-equity partnership, with profits per partner of over $7 million.
History
Davis Polk traces its origin to a one-man practice in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
opened by a 21-year-old lawyer, Francis N. Bangs. The firm changed its name several times to account for new partners, using names such as Bangs & Stetson; Bangs, Stetson, Tracey & MacVeagh,, Stetson, Jennings & Russell, and Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed. Towards the end of the 19th century, J. P. Morgan hired Francis Stetson, then name partner of the firm, as his chief counsel. During Stetson's tenure, the firm helped Morgan to restructure the Pennsylvania Railroad as well as create
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
. The modern incarnations of Morgan's business,
JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...
and Morgan Stanley, have remained key clients of the firm. Among other high-profile lawyers, President
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
served as a member of the firm during the interval between his two non-consecutive presidential terms.
From 1945 to 1965, Davis Polk was known amongst legal circles as a White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant (WASP) law firm that would not hire Jewish attorneys. Such discriminatory hiring practices of the time led to the development of "Jewish" law firms in New York City.
In 1971, Lydia Kess was the first woman to be promoted to partner, becoming the second female partner at a major Wall Street law firm.
During the
2008 financial crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, the firm represented many government clients, including the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments.
...
Freddie Mac
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is an American publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons, Virginia.Lehman Brothers, and Citigroup matters, as well as in the drafting of the Dodd–Frank Act.
In 2009, to bolster its financial regulatory practice, the firm hired three former Securities and Exchange Commission officials: Commissioner Annette Nazareth, Director of Enforcement Linda Chatman Thomsen, and Deputy Director of Trading and Markets Robert Colby—as well as former White House Staff Secretary Raul Yanes and former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation General Counsel John Douglas.
In November 2023, amid a wave of protests calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza war at elite U.S. law schools, Davis Polk & Wardwell was among a group of major law firms who sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences: "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses." The letter was criticized by a coalition of Muslim bar associations, which accused the firms of contributing to Islamophobia, a chilling effect of free speech and Pro-Palestine speech, and a climate of fear.
In September 2024, Davis Polk & Wardwell, along with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, and Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, announced their leadership roles in Tokyo Metro's upcoming initial public offering (IPO) valued at JPY 319.6 billion (approximately USD 2.24 billion). Tokyo Metro is set to list on the prime market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on October 23, 2023, having received IPO application approval on September 20.
Recognitions
In March 2007, Gay Men's Health Crisis ( GMHC) awarded Davis Polk its Heroes Honors 25th Anniversary Award for the corporate pro bono work the firm has done on the organization's behalf. In October 2008, a Davis Polk team working with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund won a $4.6 million judgment on behalf of immigrant workers who were being paid below the statutory minimum wage by their employer, a popular Manhattan restaurant.
In 2010, Davis Polk was ranked third in ''Revenue per Lawyer'' by the American Lawyer's top 100 National Firms. In 2012 and 2013, Davis Polk was named ''America's Law Firm of the Year'' by the International Financial Law Review.
The firm placed 15th on '' The American Lawyer's'' 2021 AmLaw 200 ranking, and, on the 2021 Global 200 survey, Davis Polk ranked as the 20th highest grossing law firm in the world.
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...
Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...
, and former Global General Counsel,
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...
* Ronnie Abrams – U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
* Thomas J. Aquilino – Senior Judge, U.S. Court of International Trade
* Richard M. Berman – U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
* Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum – Senior U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
* Denny Chin – U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Second Circuit Court of Appeals
* Hardy Cross Dillard – International Court of Justice
* Warren Eginton – Senior U.S. District Court Judge, District of Connecticut
* Thomas P. Griesa – Senior U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
* Cheryl Ann Krause – U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Third Circuit Court of Appeals
* J. Michael Luttig – former U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
* Amy J. St. Eve – U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
* Louis L. Stanton – Senior U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
* John M. Walker Jr. – U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Second Circuit Court of Appeals
* Lawrence Edward Walsh – former U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...
Hong Kong Stock Exchange
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the List of major stock exchanges, 9th largest globally by market ...
Boeing
The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
David Schwimmer
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Yale Law School
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Colgate University
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Harvard Law School
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Yale University
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Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...