Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP boasts one of the nation’s best and most comprehensive corporate departments with impressive teams in capital markets, M&A, executive compensation, finance, financial institutions, restructuring, private credit, tax, and intellectual property (IP) and commercial transactions. Its lauded litigation practice includes top-notch antitrust and competition, civil litigation, IP litigation, and white collar defense and investigations practices.

Historical Connections

Davis Polk was founded by Francis Bangs in 1849, making it one of the oldest law firms in the United States. Bangs’ successor, Francis Stetson, was quick to recognize the growing importance of corporate work. In 1887, banker and industrialist John Pierpont Morgan selected Stetson as his chief counsel; the firm helped Morgan restructure the Pennsylvania Railroad and create General Electric. Morgan’s businesses, in their modern-day incarnations—JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley—have remained firm clients. Over the course of many decades, the firm has built relationships with a host of other financial institutions and corporations across the country and around the world.

Transactional Titans and Litigation Lions

One firm reigns as king atop both Vault’s Banking & Financial Services and Securities/Capital Markets rankings: Davis Polk. The firm clinched the No. 1 spot in both areas in 2015 and has held a top spot since. David Polk’s capital markets group has significant experience handling initial public offerings and high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings, while its financial institutions group advises on a range of matters from M&A to financial services regulatory reform; this group was at the center of the 2023 banking crisis.

The firm’s strong transactional practices are complemented by its top-notch litigation work. Davis Polk is a regular in the top 10 of Vault’s Securities Litigation rankings and is among the top tier of Chambers’, the Legal 500’s, and Benchmark Litigation’s rankings. The firm regularly handles some of the most complex securities litigation. The firm is also widely recognized for its white collar criminal defense group, which handles everything from anti-money laundering to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters, False Claim Act/qui tam, insider trading, and much more. Following a 2019 spyware attack targeting WhatsApp, Davis Polk recently served as lead trial counsel for Meta and WhatsApp, ultimately securing a landmark summary judgment decision and a nearly $168 million jury verdict in their clients’ favor.

International Flair

Davis Polk has extensive experience in cross-border work with ample international reach. The firm has had a presence in Europe for 50 years, opening its London office in 1973 and its Madrid office in 2001. The firm set its sights on Asia, opening its Tokyo office in 1987. A Hong Kong office followed in 1993, and in 2007, the firm opened an office in Beijing. The firm’s first Latin America office, in São Paulo, opened in 2011. Davis Polk has U.S. and Hong Kong-, English-, and European-qualified lawyers. In 2023, the firm launched its European antitrust practice in Brussels. 

• Advised on the spin-off of Morgan Stanley & Co. from J.P. Morgan & Co. and its formation as an independent investment bank.
• Represented a group of steel companies in their challenge of President Truman’s seizure of steel mills in 1952. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. V. Sawyer resulted in the landmark SCOTUS decision that limited the power of the President of the United States to seize private property.
• Advised the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Treasury on the $180 billion restructuring of insurer AIG.
• Advised Grayscale Investments on the successful uplisting of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to the world’s largest exchange-traded fund (ETF). This is the first crypto ETF to trade on any U.S. securities exchange.

• Firm of the Year, 2023—Law360
• Corporate Practice of the Year (Highly Commended), 2024—The American Lawyer
• Firm of the Year (Best in State): New York, 2025—IFLR
• International Law Firm of the Year–Americas, 2024—IFLR
• Legal Service Award, 2025—The Becket Fund