Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, better known as Davis Polk is a white-shoe,

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 ...

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 clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to ...

headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with 980 attorneys worldwide and offices in Washington, D.C.,

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

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 ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

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 List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

. The firm has consistently been recognized as a global leader in banking & financial services as well as in capital markets.

History

Davis Polk traces its origin to a one-man practice in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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, and Stetson, Jennings & Russell. Towards the end of the 19th century,

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

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 The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

as well as create

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

. The modern incarnations of Morgan's business,

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, t ...

and

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

, have remained key clients of the firm. Among other high-profile lawyers, President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

served as a member of the firm during the interval between his two non-consecutive presidential terms. The firm was located at

15 Broad Street 15 Broad Street (formerly known as the Equitable Trust Building) is a former office building in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, on the eastern side of Broad Street between Wall Street and Exchange Place. It has entrances a ...

from around 1889 to 1962, and then at

One Chase Manhattan Plaza 28 Liberty Street, formerly known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza, is a 60-story International style skyscraper in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, between Nassau, Liberty, William, and Pine Streets. The building was desig ...

until 1992. The firm voted in 1967 to take its current name from three of the firm's most influential partners from the early-to-mid 20th century: John W. Davis, Frank Polk, and Allen Wardwell. In 1935, In response to the Glass–Steagall Act of 1932, the firm performed the legal work to spin off the investment banking arm of J.P. Morgan & Co., which became known as

. In 1938, the firm represented

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake ...

in the landmark case ''

Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins ''Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins'', 304 U.S. 64 (1938), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court held that there is no general American federal common law and that U.S. federal courts must apply state law, not federal law, t ...

'', 304 U.S. 64 (1938), in which Justice

Louis Brandeis Louis Dembitz Brandeis (; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939. Starting in 1890, he helped develop the " right to privacy" concep ...

introduced the

Erie doctrine The ''Erie'' doctrine is a fundamental legal doctrine of civil procedure in the United States which mandates that a federal court called upon to resolve a dispute not directly implicating a federal question (most commonly when sitting in dive ...

. In 1952, John W. Davis represented U.S. Steel and successfully challenged the constitutionality of President Harry S. Truman's attempted takeover of the company in a famous case that has been referenced by most legal scholars today to assess

executive power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems b ...

(see '' Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer'', 343 U.S. 579 (1952)). In 1962, the firm opened its first overseas office in Paris. In 1971, Lydia Kess was the first woman to be promoted to partner, becoming the second female partner at a major

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

law firm. In 1981, the firm played an important role in negotiating the financial aspects of the resolution of the

Iranian hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over ...

. In 1998, the firm advised

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...

on its $81 billion merger with

Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

, the largest merger in history at the time. In 2000, the firm advised its long-term client, J.P. Morgan & Co., on its merger with

Chase Manhattan Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fi ...

to form

. From 1999 to 2010, the firm worked on the

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

s of

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service (UPS, stylized as ups) is an American multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs, UPS has grown t ...

AT&T Wireless AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and Trade name, marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobi ...

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC; ) is a Chinese multinational bank. Founded as a limited company on 1 January 1984, ICBC is a state-owned commercial bank. With capital provided by the Ministry of Finance of China, the b ...

Visa Inc. Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded cred ...

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

and

Agricultural Bank of China Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), also known as AgBank, is one of the " Big Four" banks in China. It was founded on 10 July 1951, and has its headquarters in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It has branches throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, ...

, some of the largest IPOs in history. During the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of ...

, the firm represented many government clients, including the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

and the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of Ne ...

, and the firm had important roles in the

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, ...

, and

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi ( stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomera ...

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 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 ...

officials: Commissioner

Annette Nazareth Annette LaPorte Nazareth (born January 27, 1956) is an American attorney who served as a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from August 4, 2005 to January 31, 2008. She is currently a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, w ...

, 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 The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cr ...

General Counsel John Douglas.

Controversy about race relations

John W. Davis's legal career is most remembered for his final appearance before the Supreme Court, in which he unsuccessfully defended the "

separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protec ...

" doctrine in ''

Briggs v. Elliott ''Briggs v. Elliott'', 342 U.S. 350 (1952), on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina, challenged school segregation in Summerton, South Carolina. It was the first of the five cases combined into ''Brown v. ...

'', a companion case to ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

''. Davis, as a defender of racial segregation and state control of education, argued that

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

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. 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 Frederick "Fred" Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890 – September 8, 1953) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to ...

. After the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against his client's position, he returned the $25,000 (equivalent to $ in ), 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. It has also been reported that he never charged South Carolina in the first place. 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. In ''

Guinn v. United States ''Guinn v. United States'', 238 U.S. 347 (1915), was a United States Supreme Court decision that found certain grandfather clause exemptions to literacy tests for voting rights to be unconstitutional. Though these grandfather clauses were superf ...

'', as Solicitor General, while he argued against the legality of the “grandfather clause”, he conceded the legality of the

literacy tests A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. In the United States, between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered t ...

, which was used to disenfranchise African Americans and others.

Notable attorneys and alumni

Current attorneys

Among its current partners and counsel are: *

Uzo Asonye Uzodinma Asonye is an American attorney. He is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and the former Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption office at the Eastern District of Virginia. Early life and education Asonye was born to a ...

– former Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption office of the

Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Ro ...

and member of the office of special counsel Robert Mueller *

Jon Leibowitz Jonathan David Leibowitz (born June 17, 1958) is an American attorney who served under President Barack Obama as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2009 to 2013. Leibowitz was appointed to the commission in 2004, and resigned in 20 ...

– former chairman,

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) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction o ...

* Gary Lynch – former Director, Enforcement Division,

, and former vice-chairman and Chief Legal Officer,

, former vice-chairman,

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

, and former Global General Counsel,

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

* Neil MacBride – former U.S. Attorney,

– former commissioner,

Howard Shelanski Howard Shelanski (born 1964) is an American attorney, economist, and legal scholar. He is a professor of law at Georgetown University and a partner in the law firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell. He served in the Obama administration as administrator ...

– former administrator,

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA ) is a Division within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which in turn, is within the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide polici ...

* Linda Chatman Thomsen – former director, Enforcement Division,

Kenneth Wainstein Kenneth Leonard Wainstein (born 1962) is an American lawyer. He served as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and later as the Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush. In 2022 under the Biden Adm ...

– former

Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general. The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...

, National Security Division,

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, and former

Homeland Security Advisor The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, commonly referred to as the Homeland Security Advisor and formerly the Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, is a senior aide in the ...

Former attorneys

Judiciary

Ronnie Abrams Ronnie Abrams (born June 3, 1968 in New York City, New York) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Early life and education Abrams is one of two children born to Efrat Abram ...

– U.S. District Court Judge,

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

* Thomas J. Aquilino – Senior Judge, U.S. Court of International Trade *

Richard M. Berman Richard Miles Berman (born September 11, 1943) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education and early career Berman received his Bachelor of Science degree from Co ...

– U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York *

Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum (September 16, 1929 – February 5, 2016) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education Born into a Jewish family, Cedarbaum grew up in the C ...

– Senior U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York *

Denny Chin Denny Chin (陳卓光; born April 13, 1954) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York City. He was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court f ...

– 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 Cheryl Ann Krause (born January 1968) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Biography Early life and education Krause was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up outside Philadelphia, ...

– U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Third Circuit Court of Appeals *

J. Michael Luttig John Michael Luttig ( ; born June 13, 1954) is an American corporate lawyer and jurist who was a U.S. federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006. Luttig resigned his judgeship in 2006 to become general co ...

– former U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals *

Amy J. St. Eve Amy Joan St. Eve (born November 20, 1965) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern ...

– 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. John Mercer Walker Jr. (born December 26, 1940) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 30, 2000, to September 30, 2006, when he assumed senior ...

– 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 John Claggett Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is an American politician, attorney and diplomat who began his career in 1968 as the Attorney General of Missouri and served three terms as United States Senator from Missouri. In 2004, he served br ...

– former U.S. Senator (R-MO) and Ambassador to the United Nations *

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of ...

– U.S. Senator (D-NY) *

Ben McAdams Benjamin Michael McAdams (born December 5, 1974) is an American politician and attorney who served as the U.S. representative from Utah's 4th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. He was the only Democratic member of Utah's congressional de ...

– U.S. Representative,

Utah's 4th congressional district Utah's 4th congressional district is a congressional district created by the state legislature as a result of reapportionment by Congress after the 2010 Census showed population increases in the state relative to other states. Prior to 2010 rea ...

Terri Sewell Terri is an alternative spelling of Terry. It is a common feminine given name and is also a diminutive for Teresa. Notable people with the name include: *Terri Allard (born 1962), American country/folk singer/songwriter * Terri S. Armstrong, Ame ...

– U.S. Representative,

Alabama's 7th congressional district Alabama's 7th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. The district encompasses Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Marengo, ...

Chen Show Mao Chen Show Mao ( zh, s=陈硕茂, p=Chén Shuòmào; born 6 February 1961) is a Singaporean politician. A graduate of Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, Chen was formerly a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell. He is a member of the oppositio ...

– Member of Singaporean Parliament,

Aljunied Group Representation Constituency The Aljunied Group Representation Constituency is a five-member group representation constituency (GRC) in the north-eastern and eastern region of Singapore. The GRC consists of five divisions: Eunos, Bedok Reservoir-Punggol, Kaki Bukit, Sera ...

Workers' Party of Singapore The Workers' Party (abbreviation: WP) is a major centre-left political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and opposition Progr ...

Mondaire Jones Mondaire L. Jones (born May 18, 1987) is an American lawyer and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2021 to 2023. The district includes most of central and northwestern Westchester County and all of Rockland County. A member of t ...

– U.S. Representative-elect, New York's 17th congressional district

Law enforcement and financial regulation

Jerome Powell Jerome Hayden "Jay" Powell (born February 4, 1953) is an American attorney and investment banker who has served as the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve since 2018. After earning a degree in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and a ...

– chairman of the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

Randal Quarles Randal Keith Quarles (born September 5, 1957) is an American private equity investor and attorney who served as the first Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve for supervision from 2017 to 2021. He concurrently served as the chair of the Financial ...

– vice-chairman for Supervision,

* Paul S. Atkins – former commissioner,

Roger W. Ferguson Jr. Roger W. Ferguson Jr. (born October 28, 1951 in Washington, D.C.) is an American economist, attorney and corporate executive who served as the 17th Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, vice chairmam of the Federal Reserve from 1999 to 2006. Prior t ...

– former vice-chairman,

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after ...

; President & CEO,

TIAA-CREF The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA, formerly TIAA-CREF), is a Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research ...

Robert B. Fiske Robert Bishop Fiske Jr. (born December 28, 1930) is an American trial attorney and a partner with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. He was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1976 to 1980 ...

– Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York *

Samuel Hazard Gillespie Jr. Samuel Hazard Gillespie Jr. (July 12, 1910 – March 7, 2011) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Biography Gillespie was born in Morristown, New Jersey, and attended Yale College (1932) and Yale Law School (1935). He gained ex ...

– Former U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York *

Charles E. F. Millard Charles E. F. Millard is the former Director of the United States Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Currently a senior advisor for Amundi Pioneer, Millard is also a consultant/advisor for multiple companies through Cardinal Advisors LLC, ...

– former director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation *

Ogden Livingston Mills Ogden Livingston Mills (August 23, 1884October 11, 1937) was an American lawyer, businessman and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Treasury in President Herbert Hoover's cabinet, during which time Mills pushed for tax increa ...

– former

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 ...

* Lawrence Edward Walsh – former Deputy Attorney General and Independent Counsel, Iran-Contra Investigation

Other government service

John Bridgeland John M. Bridgeland (born May 1, 1960) is a former director of the United States Domestic Policy Council and USA Freedom Corps. He is president and CEO of the public policy firm Civic Enterprises, the co-founder and CEO of the COVID Collaborative a ...

– former director,

United States Domestic Policy Council The Domestic Policy Council (DPC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for the consideration of domestic policy matters and senior policymaking, Cabinet, and White House officials. The Council is part of the Office ...

* John W. Davis – former

United States Solicitor General The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represent ...

; Democratic Presidential Nominee, 1924 *

Reuben Jeffery III Reuben Jeffery III (born August 21, 1953) is the former United States Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, having been appointed to that position by United States President George W. Bush in June 2007. Presen ...

–

Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs The Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment is an undersecretary position within the United States Department of State. The Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment serves as senior economic advi ...

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

Charles MacVeagh Charles MacVeagh (June 6, 1860 – December 4, 1931) was an American lawyer and diplomat.

– former

United States Ambassador to Japan The is the ambassador from the United States of America to Japan. History Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between the ...

Richard Moe Richard Palmer Moe (born November 27, 1936) is an American attorney and historic preservation advocate who served as chief of staff to the vice president from 1977 to 1981. Early life and education Moe was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He earned ...

– president,

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

* Jennifer Newstead – legal advisor,

and Former General Counsel,

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). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...

* Frank Polk – former acting

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

* Peter Tufo – former

United States Ambassador to Hungary This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Hungary. Until 1867 Hungary had been part of the Austrian Empire, when the empire became Austria-Hungary. Hungary had no separate diplomatic relations with other nations. The United States ...

John E. Zuccotti John Eugene Zuccotti (; June 23, 1937 – November 19, 2015) was an Italian-American businessman active in real estate and development in New York City. He is best known as the namesake of Zuccotti Park. Early life John Zuccotti was born in 193 ...

– former deputy mayor, New York City; namesake of

Zuccotti Park Zuccotti Park (formerly Liberty Plaza Park) is a publicly accessible park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is located in a privately owned public space (POPS) controlled by Brookfield Properties and Goldman Sachs ...

Business

Alexander Cushing Alexander Cochrane Cushing (November 28, 1913 – August 19, 2006) was a lawyer who founded Squaw Valley Ski Resort in California. Early life Alexander Cochrane Cushing was born on November 28, 1913, in New York City. He was the son of Howard G ...

– founder and chairman, Ski Corporation * Eli Whitney Debevoise – founding partner,

Debevoise & Plimpton Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (often shortened to Debevoise) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Harvard Law School alumnus Eli Whitney Debevoise and Oxford-trained William Stevenson, the firm was origi ...

* Tom Glocer – CEO,

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corp ...

* Steven Goldstone – former president & CEO, RJR Nabisco * Robert Harrison – CEO,

Clinton Global Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was es ...

* Lewis B. Kaden – vice chairman,

* H. F. Lenfest – founder, Lenfest Communications * Charles Li – Chinese banker, former CEO of

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. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is rep ...

– general counsel,

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

Axel Miller Axel Miller (born 20 February 1965, Uccle, Belgium) is a Belgian businessman. From January 2006 to September 2008, he was chief executive officer and chairman of the Management Board of Dexia S.A. Since 2009, he is partner of Petercam, a Belgian ...

– chairman & CEO, Dexia S.A. *

David Schwimmer David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom ''Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Primeti ...

– CEO, London Stock Exchange * Francis Lynde Stetson – Attorney for

John Pierpont Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became kno ...

; former president,

New York State Bar Association The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice ...

. *

Andrew Yang Andrew Yang (born January 13, 1975) is an American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, and politician. Yang was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. He is the co-c ...

– entrepreneur, founder of

Venture for America Venture For America (VFA) is an American nonprofit organization and fellowship headquartered in New York City. Founded by Andrew Yang in 2011, its mission is "to create economic opportunity in American cities" by training recent graduates and youn ...

, and 2020 presidential candidate *

Reshma Saujani Reshma Saujani (born November 18, 1975) is an American lawyer, politician, civil servant, and the founder of the nonprofit organization Girls Who Code, which aims to increase the number of women in computer science and close the gender employment ...

– founder of

Girls Who Code Girls Who Code (also known as GWC) is an international nonprofit organization that aims to support and increase the number of women in computer science. The organization works toward closing the gender employment difference in computing. They ...

Media and entertainment

* Lisa Daniels – correspondent, NBC News * He Li – Chinese poet

Academia

George Bermann George Bermann is an American lawyer and scholar of international law. He is the Walter Gelhorn Professor of Law, the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law, the Director of the Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration ...

– director, European Legal Studies Center,

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

* Charles Black – professor,

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...

* Brian Casey – president,

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theolog ...

Noah Feldman Noah R. Feldman (born May 22, 1970) is an American academic and legal scholar. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He is the author of 10 books, host of ...

– professor,

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

* Victor Fleischer – professor,

University of California, Irvine School of Law The University of California, Irvine School of Law is the law school at the University of California, Irvine. It is the fifth law school in the UC system. In September 2007, Erwin Chemerinsky was named as the law school's first dean. Chemerinsky ...

Barry E. Friedman Barry E. Friedman (born January 23, 1958) is an American academic and one of the country's leading authorities on constitutional law, policing, criminal procedure, and federal courts, working at the intersections of law, politics and history. Fri ...

– vice dean,

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in ...

* Ernest Lim – professor,

National University of Singapore Faculty of Law The National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law) is Singapore's oldest law school. NUS Law was initially established in 1956 as the Department of Law in the University of Malaya. After its establishment, NUS Law was Singapore's onl ...

Linda Lorimer Linda Koch Lorimer was Vice President for Global and Strategic Initiatives at Yale University, where she was responsible for an array of administrative departments. She developed and oversees Yale's Office of International Affairs and created Yal ...

– vice president,

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

* Jane B. Korn – cean,

Gonzaga University School of Law The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Established in 1912, the Jesuit-affiliated law school has been fully accre ...

Julie O'Sullivan Julie R. O'Sullivan (born 1959) has been a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center since joining the faculty in November 1994 from her position in the Office of Independent Counsel (Little Rock, Arkansas), where she worked on the "Whitew ...

– professor,

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

Saule Omarova Saule Tarikhovna Omarova (russian: Сауле Тариховна Омарова, Säule Tarihqyzy Omarova, Kazakh Cyrillic: Сәуле Тарихқызы Омарова; born November 2, 1966) is a Kazakh-American attorney, academic, and public ...

– professor,

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

Jeannie Suk Jeannie Suk Gersen (born 1973) is a professor of law at Harvard Law School. Biography Suk attended Hunter College High School, graduating in 1991. In 1995, Suk received her B.A. in Literature from Yale University, and a D.Phil at St Hugh's Colle ...

– professor,

David Schizer David M. Schizer (born December 5, 1968) is an American lawyer and academic. He was named the fourteenth Dean of Columbia Law School in 2004. He was appointed Dean at the age of 35, making him the youngest dean in the school's history. He serve ...

– professor & dean,

David E. Van Zandt David Van Zandt is an American attorney, legal scholar, and academic administrator. He served as president of The New School from 2011 to 2020. Earlier he served as Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, from 1995 to 2011. He has ...

– president,

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, Former Dean, Northwestern University School of Law *

Mehrsa Baradaran Mehrsa Baradaran (born April 3, 1978) is an Iranian-American law professor specializing in banking law at the University of California, Irvine. Baradaran is a noted proponent of postal banking to expand financial services to underserved communit ...

–

University of Georgia School of Law The University of Georgia School of Law (Georgia Law) is the law school of the University of Georgia, a public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it among the oldest American university law schools in continuous ...

professor; author

Recognitions

In March 2007, Gay Men's Health Crisis (

GMHC The GMHC (formerly Gay Men's Health Crisis) is a New York City–based non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization whose mission statement is to "end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected." His ...

) 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 The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a New York-based national organization founded in 1974 that seeks to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organiz ...

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 ''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. and, on the 2021 Global 200 survey, Davis Polk ranked as the 20th highest grossing law firm in the world.

History

Controversy about race relations

Notable attorneys and alumni

Current attorneys

Former attorneys

Judiciary

Elected office

Law enforcement and financial regulation

Other government service

Business

Media and entertainment

Academia

Recognitions

See also

References

Further reading