Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, known as Davis Polk, is an international law firm, employing over 900 attorneys worldwide, with its headquarters in New York City. The firm represents many of the world's largest companies and financial institutions, and is best known for its corporate and litigation practices. It is consistently ranked as one of the most prestigious law firms in the world and as one of New York's most powerful law firms. The starting salary for first-year associates is $180,000.
The firm traces its origins to Gunthrie, Bangs & Van Sinderen, founded in 1849 by Francis S. Bangs, an opponent of Tammany Hall. The firm changed its name several times to account for new partners, using names such as Bangs, Stetson, Tracy, and McVeigh and Stetson, Jennings & Russell. Among other high-profile lawyers, Grover Cleveland served as a member of the firm during the interval between his two non-consecutive presidential terms. Davis Polk was located at 15 Broad Street from around 1889 until 1959.
The firm takes its current name from three 20th century partners: John W. Davis, Frank Polk, and Allen Wardwell. Davis, a former U.S. Solicitor General and the 1924 Democratic presidential nominee, made 139 oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court, most infamously in Brown v. Board of Education, in which he represented South Carolina in defense of racial segregation. With Polk and Wardwell, Davis developed close ties between the firm and the J.P. Morgan companies, as well as the Guaranty Trust Company, the Associated Press, and International Paper.
In 1971, the firm promoted to its partnership at Davis Polk & Wardwell its first woman, Lydia Kess.
The firm has represented numerous clients in the financial crisis of 2007–2008, with roles in the AIG, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and Citigroup matters. It has also served as lead counsel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the U.S. Treasury’s $250 billion bank capital purchase program and the creation of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. To bolster its financial regulatory practice, the firm recently 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 FDIC General Counsel John Douglas.
Chambers Associate called Davis Polk the "Tiffany's of law firms".
Ronnie Abrams - U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
Thomas J. Aquilino, Jr. - 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 - Nominee, 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. District Court Judge, Northern District of Illinois
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 E. Walsh - Former U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
Grover Cleveland - Former U.S. President
John Danforth - Former U.S. Senator (R-MO) and Ambassador to the United Nations
Kirsten Gillibrand - U.S. Senator (D-NY)
Ben McAdams - State Senator, Utah State Legislature
Reshma Saujani - Candidate, U.S. House of Representatives, New York's 14th congressional district
Terri Sewell - U.S. Representative, Alabama's 7th congressional district
Chen Show Mao - Member of Singaporean Parliament, Aljunied Group Representation Constituency, Workers' Party of Singapore
Law enforcement and financial regulation
Paul S. Atkins - Former Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission
Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. - Former Vice-Chairman, Federal Reserve; President & CEO, TIAA-CREF
Robert B. Fiske - Former U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York
Samuel Hazard Gillespie Jr - Former U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York
Gary Lynch - Former Director, Division of Enforcement, Securities and Exchange Commission
Charles E. F. Millard - Former Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Ogden Livingston Mills - Former Secretary of the Treasury
Annette Nazareth - Former Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission
Randal Quarles - Former Undersecretary for Domestic Finance, U.S. Department of Treasury
Howard Shelanski - Commissioner, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Linda Chatman Thomsen - Former Director, Division of Enforcement, Securities and Exchange Commission
Lawrence E. Walsh - Former Deputy Attorney General and Independent Counsel, Iran-Contra Investigation
John Bridgeland - Former Director, White House Domestic Policy Council
John W. Davis - Former U.S. Solicitor General; Democratic Presidential Nominee, 1924
Reuben Jeffery III - Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Charles MacVeagh - Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Richard Moe - President, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Jennifer Newstead - Former General Counsel, Office of Management and Budget
Frank Polk - Former Acting U.S. Secretary of State
Peter Tufo - Former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary
John E Zuccotti - Former Deputy Mayor, New York City; namesake of Zuccotti Park
Alexander Cushing - Founder and Chairman, Ski Corporation
Eli Whitney Debevoise - Founding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Tom Glocer - CEO, Thomson Reuters
Steven Goldstone - Former President & CEO, RJR Nabisco
Robert Harrison - CEO, Clinton Global Initiative
Lewis B. Kaden - Vice Chairman, Citigroup
H. F. Lenfest - Founder, Lenfest Communications
J. Michael Luttig - General Counsel, Boeing
Gary Lynch - Former Vice Chairman, Morgan Stanley; Former Vice Chairman, Credit Suisse First Boston; Global General Counsel, Bank of America
Axel Miller - Chairman & CEO, Dexia S.A.
Francis Lynde Stetson - Attorney for John Pierpont Morgan; former president, New York State Bar Association.
Lisa Daniels - Correspondent, NBC News
He Li - Chinese Poet
Crystal McKellar - Actress and former associate with the firm
George Bermann - Director, European Legal Studies Center, Columbia Law School
Charles Black - Professor, Yale Law School
Brian Casey - President, DePauw University
Barry E. Friedman - Vice Dean, New York University School of Law
Linda Lorimer - Vice President, Yale University
Jane B. Korn - Dean, Gonzaga University School of Law
Julie O'Sullivan - Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
David Schizer - Dean, Columbia Law School
David E. Van Zandt - President, The New School, Former Dean, Northwestern University School of Law
In 2012 and 2013, Davis Polk was named "Americas Law Firm of the Year" by the International Financial Law Review.
In 2010, Davis Polk was ranked third in "Revenue per Lawyer" by the American Lawyer's top 100 National Firms.
Individual Davis Polk insolvency & restructuring lawyers were named “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer.
“Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer” by Turnarounds & Workouts and “Lawyer of the Year” by Law Business Research’s Who’s Who Legal–International Who’s Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers.
Davis Polk ranked in the first tier among New York law firms in U.S. tax matters by Chambers USA, which commented that “with a ‘terrific team of excellent tax lawyers,’ the group successfully mixes M&A and finance, establishing itself as one of the premier law firms in New York, and indeed across the USA”.
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 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.
