{{Short description|International law firm headquartered in New York City}} {{Infobox law firm | name = Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP | headquarters = 450 Lexington Avenue<br />New York City | date_founded = {{Start date and age|1849}} | num_offices = 10 | num_attorneys = 1,237 (2025)<ref name=":)"/> | practice_areas = {{ubl|Capital markets|Corporate/M&A|Financial services regulation|Investment management|Private equity|Litigation|Insolvency/restructuring|Antitrust|Credit/financing|Tax}} | key_people = Neil Barr, Managing Partner | revenue = US$3.2 billion (2025)<ref name=":)">{{cite web|url = https://www.law.com/compass/firm/LF00000294/Davis-Polk/overview| title = Davis Polk|work=Law.com}}</ref> | profit_per_equity_partner = US$9.8 million (2025)<ref name=":)"/> | company_type = {{nowrap|Limited liability partnership}} | homepage = {{URL|https://davispolk.com/}} }} thumb|At the offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York, New York. '''Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP''' is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City with offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Redwood City, California, London, Madrid, Brussels, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, and São Paulo. The firm is recognized for its work in corporate law, litigation, tax, and financial regulation. Davis Polk operates as an all-equity partnership.
== History == Davis Polk began as a solo practice in Manhattan 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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1925-01-17 |title=JOHN W. DAVIS HEAD OF HIS LAW FIRM; Stetson, Jennings & Russell Is Now Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/01/17/archives/john-w-davis-head-of-his-law-firm-stetson-jennings-russell-is-now.html |access-date=2024-07-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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. The modern incarnations of Morgan's business, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, have remained key clients of the firm. Among other high-profile lawyers, President Grover Cleveland served as a member of the firm during the interval between his two non-consecutive presidential terms.<ref>Allan Nevins, Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage, p.450.</ref>
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.<ref>Wald, Eli, The Rise and Fall of the WASP and Jewish Law Firms. Stanford Law Review, Forthcoming, U Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-15, Available at SSRN: <nowiki>https://ssrn.com/abstract=1138432</nowiki></ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lat |first=David |date=January 5, 2012 |title=Oy Vey! Milbank Mistakenly Touts 'Only Orthodox Jewish Woman Partner' in Biglaw |url=http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/oy-vey-milbank-tweed-erroneously-touts-only-orthodox-jewish-woman-partner-in-biglaw/ |access-date=July 7, 2025 |work=Above The Law}}</ref>
During the 2008 financial crisis, the firm represented many government clients, including the United States Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the firm had important roles in the AIG, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and Citigroup matters, as well as in the drafting of the Dodd–Frank Act.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://abovethelaw.com/2008/09/davis-polk-making-bank/ | title=Davis Polk: Making Bank | first=David | last=Lat | work=Above the Law | date=September 18, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.davispolk.com/files/uploads/Articles/For.Davis.Polk.Dodd-Frank.Pays.AmLaw.dec10.pdf | title=For Davis Polk, Dodd–Frank Pays | access-date=2019-03-14 | archive-date=2020-10-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024025632/https://www.davispolk.com/files/uploads/Articles/For.Davis.Polk.Dodd-Frank.Pays.AmLaw.dec10.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123958616552412509 | work=The Wall Street Journal | title=Davis Polk Recruits Ex-SEC Aide | date=April 13, 2009 | first=Kara | last=Scannell}}</ref>
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."<ref name=hiring>{{cite news |last1=Sorkin |first1=Andrew Ross |last2=Mattu |first2=Ravi |last3=Warner |first3=Bernhard |last4=Kessler |first4=Sarah |last5=de la Merced |first5=Michael J. |last6=Hirsch |first6=Lauren |last7=Livni |first7=Ephrat |title=Law Firms Warn Universities About Antisemitism on Campus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/business/dealbook/law-firms-schools-antisemitism.html |access-date=2 November 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=2 November 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Egan |first=Matt |date=November 14, 2023 |title=Law firms accused of fueling Islamophobia, chilling free speech |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/14/business/islamophobia-antisemitism-law-firms/index.html#:~:text=The%20members%20of%20the%20Muslim,their%20students%20would%20face%20consequences. |access-date=April 15, 2025 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>
In January 2025, Neil Barr, chair and managing partner of Davis Polk, discussed the rationale behind the firm's switch from a pure lock-step compensation model to a more performance-based system. He emphasized that increased employee mobility required a compensation structure tied to incentives and firm cohesion, an effort to balance market competitiveness with maintaining firm culture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elman |first=David |date=2025-01-30 |title=Drinks With The Deal: Davis Polk's Neil Barr |url=https://www.thedeal.com/podcasts/drinks-with-the-deal-davis-polks-neil-barr-discusses-compensation-comcast/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=The Deal |language=en}}</ref>
In April 2026, Davis Polk & Wardwell announced plans to open an office in Los Angeles, with the head of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's Los Angeles office, Jason Russell, recruited to lead the new location.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Tribe |first=Meghan |date=April 14, 2026 |title=Davis Polk to Open Los Angeles Office with Skadden Partner |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/davis-polk-opens-los-angeles-office-with-top-skadden-partner |access-date=April 14, 2026 |website=Bloomberg Law}}</ref>
===Defense of segregation=== John W. Davis's legal career at Davis Polk is most remembered for his final appearance before the Supreme Court, in which he unsuccessfully defended the "separate but equal" doctrine in ''Briggs v. Elliott'', a companion case to ''Brown v. Board of Education''. Davis, as a defender of racial segregation and state control of education, argued that South Carolina had shown good faith in attempting to eliminate any inequality between black and white schools and should be allowed to continue to do so without judicial intervention.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maruca |first=Mary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xZJmJcHYnP0C&dq=%22Briggs+v.+Elliott%22+%22john+davis%22&pg=PA12 |title=Brown V. Board of Education National Historic Site |date=2003 |publisher=Western National Parks Association |isbn=978-1-58369-030-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=Sydnor |date=1995 |title=John W. Davis and His Role in the Public School Segregation Cases - A Personal Memoir |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1807&context=wlulr |volume=52 |issue=5 |journal=Washington and Lee Law Review |pages=1679 |access-date=2026-01-30}}</ref> He expected to win, most likely through a divided Supreme Court, even after the matter was re-argued after the death of Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson. After the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against his client's position, he returned the $25,000 (equivalent to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|25000|1952|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}),{{Inflation-fn|US}} that he had received from South Carolina, although he was not required to do so, but kept a silver tea service that had been presented to him.<ref name="Kluger">{{cite book |author=Kluger, Richard |title=Simple Justice: the History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle For Equality |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |year=1976 |isbn=0-394-47289-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/simplejusticehi000klug }}</ref> It has also been reported that he never charged South Carolina in the first place.<ref>{{cite book |author=Harbaugh, William Henry |title=Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=1973 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lawyerslawyerlif00harb/page/507 507] |isbn=0-19-501699-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/lawyerslawyerlif00harb/page/507 }}</ref> He declined to participate further in the case, as he did not wish to be involved in the drafting of decrees to implement the Court's decision.<ref name="Kluger"/>
In ''Guinn v. United States'', as Solicitor General, while he argued against the legality of the "grandfather clause", he conceded the illegality of the literacy tests, which was used to disenfranchise African Americans and others.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Patrice |first=Joe |date=2020-06-17 |title=Davis Polk Is Named After A Segregationist... Perhaps It's Time To Consider A New Name - Above the Law |url=https://abovethelaw.com/2020/06/davis-polk-is-named-after-a-segregationist-perhaps-its-time-to-consider-a-new-name/ |access-date=2023-08-30 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Materson |first=Lisa G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GjGim031-CMC&q=Guinn+v+United+States+%22John+davis%22e&pg=PA132 |title=For the Freedom of Her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois, 1877-1932 |date=2009-03-15 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-9403-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Bob Navarro Solicitors General of the United States page 31 https://books.google.com/books?id=0oy3DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Guinn+v+United+States%22+%22John+davis%22&pg=PA31</ref>
=== Representation of Purdue Pharma === As of 2025, Davis Polk presently represents Purdue Pharma as the lead counsel for its bankruptcy proceedings.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-05 |title=Marshall Huebner and Ben Kaminetzky honored by AmLaw for landmark win for Purdue’s stakeholders {{!}} Davis Polk |url=https://www.davispolk.com/news/marshall-huebner-and-ben-kaminetzky-honored-amlaw-landmark-win-purdues-stakeholders |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.davispolk.com |language=en}}</ref> Purdue filed for bankruptcy in September 2019 to deal with its debts from thousands of lawsuits alleging that Purdue was responsible for the opioid epidemic and more than a million overdose deaths as a result of its marketing of Oxycontin as less addictive than it was in reality.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-05 |title=Landmark Second Circuit decision affirms Purdue Plan, legality of nonconsensual third-party releases {{!}} Davis Polk |url=https://www.davispolk.com/insights/client-update/landmark-second-circuit-decision-affirms-purdue-plan-legality-nonconsensual |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.davispolk.com |language=en}}</ref>
Purdue retained Davis Polk in March 2018, and its representation was critical to reaching a settlement that released the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, from any potential liability related to opioid claims in exchange for relinquishing all of their equity in Purdue and making a $4.275 billion payment into a claims trust for opioid claimants.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Vince |date=January 28, 2022 |title=Bankruptcy Group Of The Year: Davis Polk |url=https://www.davispolk.com/sites/default/files/2022-01/Bankruptcy%20Group%20Of%20The%20Year%20Davis%20Polk.pdf |access-date=April 4, 2025 |work=LAW360}}</ref>
Although the Sackler family is not a debtor in the bankruptcy proceeding, the bankruptcy plan is structured to protect the Sacklers from future civil litigation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Indap |first=Sujeet |date=2021-08-08 |title=Purdue’s bankruptcy deal shields Sackler family owners from future opioid liability |url=https://www.ft.com/content/f0d6f014-dfa1-4d93-a11b-d9ede668be11 |access-date=2025-04-04 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> An analysis commissioned by Davis Polk found that the Sackler family took $10.3 billion in net cash distributions out of Purdue between 2008 and 2019.<ref name=":0" />
As of March 2025, a New York bankruptcy judge has approved $246 million in legal fees for Davis Polk. The firm has requested another $12.2 million for its work from September 2024 to January 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=David |date=March 20, 2025 |title=Purdue Pharma fees surpass $250 million for Davis Polk amid new bankruptcy plan |url=https://content.next.westlaw.com/Document/Iba0a362105bb11f0a698bbef0385a894/View/FullText.html?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default) |access-date=April 4, 2025}}</ref>
== Recognition == 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.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Gay Men's Health Crisis to Commemorate 25 Years of Leadership in the Fight Against AIDS at GMHC Heroes Honors 25th Anniversary Dinner|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gay-mens-health-crisis-to-commemorate-25-years-of-leadership-in-the-fight-against-aids-at-gmhc-heroes-honors-25th-anniversary-dinner-52132082.html|access-date=9 August 2016|publisher=PRNewswire|date=March 7, 2007}}</ref>
In 2010, Davis Polk was ranked third in ''Revenue per Lawyer'' by the American Lawyer's top 100 National Firms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202448485080 |title=The Am Law 100 2010 – Revenue Per Lawyer (RPL) Falls Again |publisher=Law.com |date=2012-09-09 |access-date=2012-10-09}}</ref> In 2012 and 2013, Davis Polk was named ''America's Law Firm of the Year'' by the International Financial Law Review.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.iflr.com/Article/3176536/Davis-Polk-wins-again-at-IFLR-Americas-Awards.html | title=Davis Polk Wins Again at IFLR Americas Awards | work=International Financial Law Review | date=March 22, 2013}}</ref>
The firm placed 15th on ''The American Lawyer's'' 2021 AmLaw 200 ranking,<ref name=":)" /> and, on the 2021 Global 200 survey, Davis Polk ranked as the 20th highest grossing law firm in the world.<ref name=":)" />
In 2024, Davis Polk was recognized as a top international law firm in five practice areas at China Business Law Journal’s 2024 China Business Law Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Benjie |date=2024-07-24 |title=China Business Law Awards 2024 |url=https://law.asia/top-firms-china-2024/ |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=Law.asia |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Notable attorneys and alumni== {{more citations needed section|date=August 2012}}
===Current attorneys=== Among its current partners and counsel are:
* Uzo Asonye – former Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption office of the Eastern District of Virginia and member of the office of special counsel Robert Mueller * Jon Leibowitz – former chairman, Federal Trade Commission * Gary Lynch – former director, Enforcement Division, Securities and Exchange Commission, and former vice-chairman and Chief Legal Officer, Morgan Stanley, former vice-chairman, Credit Suisse, and former Global General Counsel, Bank of America * Neil MacBride – former U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia * Annette Nazareth – former commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission *Kannon Shanmugam - former Partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison<ref>{{cite news |last1=Silver-Greenberg|first1 =Jessica |last2 = S.Schmidt|first2=Michael |date = April 23, 2026 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/business/paul-weiss-law-firm-departures.html |title = Two Litigation Partners Depart Paul Weiss|website=nytmes.com}}</ref> * Howard Shelanski – former administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs * Linda Chatman Thomsen – former director, Enforcement Division, Securities and Exchange Commission
===Former attorneys=== ====Judiciary==== * Ronnie Abrams – U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York<ref>{{cite news |last=Lattman |first=Peter |date=July 29, 2011 |title=Davis Polk Lawyer Nominated for Federal Bench |work=The New York Times |url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/davis-polk-lawyer-is-nominated-for-the-federal-bench/}}{{subscription required}}</ref> * 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<ref>{{cite news |last=LUBASCH |first=ARNOLD H. |date=July 26, 1985 |title=WALL ST. LAWYER WINS BACKING FOR U.S. JUDGEh |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/26/nyregion/wall-st-lawyer-wins-backing-for-us-judge.html}}</ref> * 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
====Elected office==== * John Danforth – former U.S. Senator (R-MO) and Ambassador to the United Nations * Kirsten Gillibrand – U.S. Senator (D-NY) * Ben McAdams – U.S. Representative, Utah's 4th 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<ref>{{cite news |last=Han Wong |first=Chun |date=May 6, 2011 |title=Candidate Q&A: Chen Show Mao |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703992704576306013921965464}}{{subscription required}}</ref> * Mondaire Jones – former U.S. Representative, New York's 17th congressional district<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mondaire Jones {{!}} U.S. Commission on Civil Rights |url=https://www.usccr.gov/about/mondaire-jones |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=www.usccr.gov |language=en}}</ref> * Zellnor Myrie - New York State Senator, New York's 20th State Senate district<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Campanile |first1=Carl |last2=Janoski |first2=Steve |date=2024-05-12 |title=Who is Zellnor Myrie, the Democratic state senator who wants to run the Big Apple? |url=https://nypost.com/2024/05/12/us-news/who-is-zellnor-myrie-the-democratic-state-senator-who-wants-to-run-the-big-apple/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |language=en-US}}</ref>
====Law enforcement and financial regulation==== {{more citations needed|section|date=December 2016}} * Jerome Powell – chairman of the Federal Reserve<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Steven |date=1992-04-14 |title=BUSINESS PEOPLE; New Duties Familiar To Treasury Nominee |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/14/business/business-people-new-duties-familiar-to-treasury-nominee.html |access-date=2025-04-16 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> * Randal Quarles – vice-chairman for Supervision, Federal Reserve<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smialek |first=Jeanna |date=2019-11-29 |title=Meet the Man Loosening Bank Regulation, One Detail at a Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/29/business/economy/bank-regulations-fed.html |access-date=2025-04-16 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> * Paul S. Atkins – former commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trump Nominates Paul Atkins as SEC Chair |url=https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2024/12/04/trump-nominates-paul-atkins-as-sec-chair/?slreturn=20250416121907 |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=National Law Journal |language=en}}</ref> * Roger W. Ferguson Jr. – former vice-chairman, Federal Reserve System; President & CEO, TIAA-CREF<ref>{{Cite news |title=How Did I Get Here? Roger Ferguson Jr. |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-how-did-i-get-here/roger-ferguson-jr.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716141013/https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-how-did-i-get-here/roger-ferguson-jr.html |archive-date=2020-07-16 |access-date=2025-04-16 |work=Bloomberg.com |url-status=live }}</ref> * Robert B. Fiske – Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert B. Fiske, Jr. |url=https://history.nycourts.gov/oral_history/robert-fiske/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Historical Society of the New York Courts |language=en-US}}</ref> * Samuel Hazard Gillespie Jr. – Former U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York<ref>{{cite news |last=GRIMES |first=WILLIAM |date=March 8, 2011 |title=S. Hazard Gillespie, Former U.S. Attorney, Dies at 100 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/nyregion/09gillespie.html}}</ref> * Charles E. F. Millard – former director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation<ref>{{Cite web |title=Press Release Archives #166-99- MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES THAT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PRESIDENT CHARLES MILLARD HAS ACCEPTED A POSITION IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR |url=https://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/99a/pr166-99.html |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=www.nyc.gov}}</ref> * Ogden Livingston Mills – former Secretary of the Treasury * Lawrence Edward Walsh – former Deputy Attorney General and Independent Counsel, Iran-Contra Investigation * Kenneth Wainstein – former Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, Department of Justice, and former Homeland Security Advisor<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rodgers |first=Jack |date=April 1, 2025 |title=Ex-DHS Intel Head To Lead Mayer Brown Investigations Team - Law360 Pulse |url=https://www.law360.com/pulse/dc-pulse/articles/2316559/ex-dhs-intel-head-to-lead-mayer-brown-investigations-team |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=www.law360.com |language=en}}</ref>
====Other government service==== * John Bridgeland – former director, United States Domestic Policy Council<ref>{{cite news |last=Easton |first=Nina J. |date=March 27, 2002 |title=The Wings of an Idea |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/03/27/the-wings-of-an-idea/0025c2fb-3ab8-497d-be01-0c82a29bdf18/}}</ref> * John W. Davis – former United States 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 United States Ambassador to Japan * Richard Moe – president, National Trust for Historic Preservation<ref>{{Cite web |title=Davis Polk & Wardwell, 1980-2000 and undated {{!}} Archival Collections |url=https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/284346 |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=archives.lib.umd.edu}}</ref> * Frank Polk – former acting U.S. Secretary of State * Peter Tufo – former United States Ambassador to Hungary<ref>{{Cite web |title=Merrill Lynch names Peter Tufo as a managing director - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/02/02/Merrill-Lynch-names-Peter-Tufo-as-a-managing-director/5859728629200/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> * John E. Zuccotti – former deputy mayor, New York City; namesake of Zuccotti Park<ref>{{cite news |last=DUNLAP |first=DAVID W. |date=February 25, 1996 |title=Lawyers Who Mold The Shape of a City |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/25/realestate/lawyers-who-mold-the-shape-of-a-city.html}}</ref>
====Business==== * Alexander Cushing – founder and chairman, Ski Corporation<ref>{{cite news |date=August 21, 2006 |title=Alex Cushing, Founder of Squaw Valley, Dies |work=Snowboard Magazine |url=https://snowboardmag.com/stories/alex-cushing-founder-squaw-valley-dies-0}}</ref> * Eli Whitney Debevoise – founding partner, Debevoise & Plimpton<ref>{{cite news |last=HEVESI |first=DENNIS |date=July 1, 1990 |title=Eli Whitney Debevoise Dies at 90; Co-Founder of a Top Law Firm |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/01/obituaries/eli-whitney-debevoise-dies-at-90-co-founder-of-a-top-law-firm.html}}</ref> * Tom Glocer – CEO, Thomson Reuters * Steven Goldstone – former president & CEO, RJR Nabisco * Robert Harrison – CEO, Clinton Global Initiative<ref>{{cite web |title=CGI Leadership |url=http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/aboutus/leadership.asp?Section=AboutUs&PageTitle=CGI%20Leadership |access-date=2012-08-12 |publisher=Clintonglobalinitiative.org |archive-date=2012-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422135912/http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/aboutus/leadership.asp?Section=AboutUs&PageTitle=CGI%20Leadership |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Lewis B. Kaden – vice chairman, Citigroup<ref>{{Cite web |title=Former Citi Vice Chair Returns to Davis Polk |url=https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/almID/1202762462190/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=The American Lawyer |language=en}}</ref> * H. F. Lenfest – founder, Lenfest Communications * Charles Li – Chinese banker, former CEO of Hong Kong Stock Exchange * J. Michael Luttig – general counsel, Boeing * Axel Miller – chairman & CEO, Dexia S.A. * Jennifer Gillian Newstead - general counsel, Meta Platforms and Apple Inc. * David Schwimmer – CEO, London Stock Exchange * Francis Lynde Stetson – Attorney for John Pierpont Morgan; former president, New York State Bar Association.<ref>Francis L. Stetson, Lawyer, Dies at 74,' ''New York Times,'' December 6, 1920</ref> * Andrew Yang – entrepreneur, founder of Venture for America, and 2020 presidential candidate * Reshma Saujani – founder of Girls Who Code
====Media and entertainment==== * He Li – Chinese poet
====Academia==== * George Bermann – director, European Legal Studies Center, Columbia Law School * Charles Black – professor, Yale Law School * Brian Casey – president, Colgate University * Noah Feldman – professor, Harvard Law School * Victor Fleischer – professor, University of California, Irvine School of Law * 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 *Saule Omarova – professor, Cornell Law School * Jeannie Suk – professor, Harvard Law School * David Schizer – professor & dean, Columbia Law School<ref>{{cite web |title=David M. Schizer |url=https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/david-schizer |access-date=21 January 2018 |website=Columbia Law School}}</ref> * David E. Van Zandt – president, The New School, Former Dean, Northwestern University School of Law
==See also== *List of largest law firms by profits per partner * White shoe firms
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Oller, John, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=W7NkDwAAQBAJ&q=paul White Shoe: How a New Breed of Wall Street Lawyers Changed Big Business--and the American Century]'', Penguin Random House, 2019. {{ISBN|978-1524743253}} *{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=James |author-link=James B. Stewart | title=The Partners: Inside America's Most Powerful Law Firms | publisher=Simon & Schuster | location=New York | year=1983 | isbn=0-671-42023-2 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis Polk and Wardwell}} Category:Law firms based in New York City Category:1849 establishments in New York (state) Category:Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong Category:Foreign law firms with offices in Japan Category:Multinational law firms Category:Corporate law firms Category:Financial services law firms