Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Select Coverage from Above the Law

  • Morning Docket: 04.11.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.11.17

    Uh-oh! Trouble in paradise? It looks like Martin Shkreli’s lawyer — who also happens to be his co-defendant — has turned on him.

    * Florida has released the results from its administration of the February 2017 bar exam, and they were not pretty. The percentage of those who passed dipped a bit since 2016, but students at both Orlando law schools were more likely to have failed. But which law school did the worst of all? We’ll have more on this later. [Orlando Sentinel]

    * Trouble in paradise? Martin Shkreli’s former lawyer, Evan Greebel — who also happens to be his co-defendant — has turned on him, accusing the pharma bro of submitting false documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and engaging in illegal stock trading. Greebel, of course, now wants to be tried separately from Shkreli. [Bloomberg]

    * “I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would be back.” Five women who once worked at Davis Polk and had been gone for at least two years to raise their families have returned to the firm for one-year stints with a program called “Davis Polk Revisited.” If all goes well, they may be able to return for a longer period of time. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * A former Hunton & Williams partner who spent 20 years on the lam as a fugitive has finally been caught. Scott Wolas, who was disbarred in 1999, was most recently accused in a $1.5 million real estate investment fraud scheme. Over the course of his alleged criminal career, Wolas reportedly assumed a number of other aliases. [Am Law Daily]

    * Each year around Easter, the ABA Journal hosts a Peeps in Law diorama contest. It’s time to cast your vote for your favorite, and this time around, the competition is pretty stiff. We’re particularly partial to the entry that’s been dubbed “State of Peepington v. Trump,” but “Peepsburg and Sugarmayor” is also very cute. Vote! [ABA Journal]

  • Morning Docket: 02.16.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.16.17

    * Are federal authorities investigating Fox News? [Law360]

    * Has Trump made law school “cool again”? No. Law school was never cool. [Quartz]

    * What do you know? Looks like some firms are finally waking up to the fact that they didn’t have good years and really couldn’t afford to jack up associate salaries. [ABA Journal]

    * That said, Davis Polk just had its self-described “best year ever.” Did nobody tell these people Bowie died? [Am Law Daily]

    * Judges say they understand technology, but contradictory rulings about discovery and “the cloud” may say otherwise. [Law.com]

    * The litigation finance industry is leery of class actions. Should they be? [The Recorder]

    * Then again, maybe it won’t matter because this Congress is trying to gut class actions by making it next to impossible to find lawyers willing to take on these cases. [Forbes]

    * Hofstra Law is opening a clinic to serve immigrants dealing with deportation. [Newsday]

    * Nobody actually likes the Rams or Chargers. That’s why Biglaw is in deep with a gaggle of antitrust suits brought by the people of Los Angeles over having to buy NFL Sunday Ticket. [Law.com]

  • Morning Docket: 09.16.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.16.16

    * Former Berkeley Law dean Sujit Choudhry is suing the school, claiming that Berkeley discriminated against him by punishing him more harshly for alleged sexual harassment compared to white professors. [Law.com]

    * The family of Sandra Bland settles its lawsuit over her death for $1.9 million. [New York Times]

    * The Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc (and rather splintered), rules that the mental-health ban on gun ownership could violate the Second Amendment. [How Appealing]

    * Congratulations to Miami corporate partner Ira Coleman, who will replace Peter John Sacripanti and Jeffrey E. Stone as chair of McDermott Will & Emery in January. [Big Law Business]

    * Ashurst remains in a tailspin, with five partners (including two office heads) leaving in the span of 24 hours. [Ashurst]

    * In other U.K. law firm news, Freshfields is replacing “Dear Sirs” with gender-neutral salutations in all communications and legal documents. [The Lawyer via Big Law Business]

    * More exciting news for Bancroft: recognition for its pro bono work, which partners pledge will continue after they move over to Kirkland. [Law360]

    * Paging parents who left Davis Polk to raise their kids: here’s a program to bring you back into Biglaw. [Law.com via ABA Journal]

  • Morning Docket: 09.14.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.14.16

    * “Your complaint claims that it must speak for us because we are too afraid to speak for ourselves. That is not how we see ourselves and certainly not how any of us believes our clients and colleagues perceive us.” Some female partners at Chadbourne & Parke are speaking out against the $100 million class-action sex discrimination lawsuit that’s been filed on their behalf. We’ll have more on this news update later today. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Davis Polk is so desperate to improve gender diversity at the firm that it has launched an alumni rehiring program to give women who have opted to leave the firm to raise children a pathway back to an associate-level position. Participants in the program will earn $190K for one year, and may be offered a permanent job. [Am Law Daily]

    * Say hello to Michael Gerstenzang, who was elected as Cleary Gottlieb’s new managing partner. He’s been with the firm for his entire career as an attorney since the 1990s, and he’ll continue to maintain his private equity and funds practice during his time serving as the firm’s leader, or rather, its “listener in chief.” Congratulations! [Legal Week]

    * The House of Representatives approved the Financial Choice Act, a bill meant to roll back portions of the Dodd-Frank Act, including the Volcker Rule and the Durbin Amendment. Critics had this to say: “This bill is so bad that it simply cannot be fixed. It’s clear that this is a rushed, partisan messaging tool.” [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Sixteen years after the alleged fraud took place, ex-AIG chairman Hank Greenberg is standing trial. Although he’s accused of orchestrating multimillion-dollar transactions, David Boies of Boies Schiller says “[t]his case is devoid of any admissible evidence that ties Mr. Greenberg to anything improper in either of these transactions.” [Reuters]

    * Deborah Broyles, global diversity director at Reed Smith, RIP. [Big Law Business]

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U.S. Lawyer Headcount
842
Total Number of Offices
10
Largest Office
New York, NY
Year Founded
1849
Leadership

Neil Barr, Chair and Managing Partner
Georgetown University, JD

Leverage (Attorneys::Equity Partners)
5:1
Top Feeder Schools
Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, NYU School of Law

Compensation

Salary Scale
Market
Bonus Category
Full Match