Profile: Davis Polk & Wardwell

Davis Polk & Wardwell - Who's Who Legal '70'

What is the Who's Who Legal '70'?

Davis Polk’s practice is split into four departments – corporate, litigation, tax, and trusts and estates and lawyers from the firm feature 37 times in 11 practice areas on the following pages.

CORPORATE
Capital markets is one of the three major practice groups within the corporate department. This group put in a strong performance in this year’s research, resulting the inclusion of seven practitioners from four offices. Richard Sandler, co-head of the firm’s global capital markets group, is based in New York. Sandler was praised highly by sources, as was Michael Kaplan. One corporate source noted that Kaplan is “very knowledgeable, thorough, client-friendly and [offers] superior judgement”. Kaplan has been primary capital markets partner for companies such as Verizon Wireless, MCI and Syngenta. In London Paul Etienne Kumbleden boasts an excellent reputation. Thomas Reid joins him in the London section and experience includes working on the flotation of Alstom as well as the privatisation of Swisscom in Switzerland. The firm is also prominent in Toyko with both Theodore Paradise and Eugene Gregor consistently recommended. Rivals noted of Gregor, “investment banks rate him highly”. William Barron in the Hong Kong office completes the firm’s excellent showing in the chapter.

Another major area is mergers and acquisitions: the M&A chapter features two Davis Polk practitioners. Arnaud Pérès is very well known in the Paris market for participating in some of its largest transactions. The “brilliant” George Bason heads the mergers and acquisitions practice from the New York office. Bason was also heavily endorsed for his corporate governance advice and appears in this chapter alongside two other leading lights, Daniel Kelly and Arthur Golden.

Golden is listed twice on the following pages, he appears in the competition chapter  – another strong suit for the firm whose practice is home to “some great names”. Alongside Golden, Ronan Harty is rated as a “first-class mergers lawyer – smart and practical”. Also in the New York office are Paul Bartel and Joel Cohen. Completing the listing is the “very strong” Arthur Burke in Menlo Park. These “great names” are part of a practice that counts Morgan Stanley and AstraZeneca as clients. The firm’s antitrust team also specialises in merger control, successfully negotiating Comcast and Time Warner’s takeover of rival cable television company Adelphia, after a seven-month investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

The Davis Polk contingent in the banking chapter practises in New York. The “first-rate” Randall Guynn heads the firm’s financial institutions group and boasts some of the largest US, European and Asian banking organisations among his clients. Bradley Smith is part of the firm’s credit group and was applauded by sources as “excellent”. Also in this section are Peter Levin, whose clients include JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America and HSBC and James Florack who is particularly experienced regarding transactions in Latin America.

Yukako Kawata, co-head of the firm’s investment management and private funds group, is “up there with the best” in the private funds chapter. Kawata is joined by another funds “star”: Leor Landa. In project finance, Waide Warner is a “real player” and his equally esteemed partner Joseph Hadley accompanies him.

The insolvency & restructuring chapter is home to one of the firm’s biggest names, Donald Bernstein, who is well known for his “great work for very sophisticated creditors” and attracted a great deal of praise during the research for this section. Karen Wagner was also hailed as a “good operator”. Christophe Perchet joined the firm’s Paris office in 2007 and completes the impressive listing for this giant New York law firm.

LITIGATION
The firm’s New York office is also home to three practitioners in the commercial litigation chapter. Robert Fiske is the firm’s most highly nominated individual and the only Davis Polk partner to be included in the business crime section of this publication. Fiske was described to researchers as “a star” and a “class act”. Daniel Kolb and Robert Wise, both Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers, join Fiske in the commercial litigation chapter. Wise is well known for his active securities litigation and SEC enforcement practice, which has seen him represent a series of issuers in federal securities law Rule 10b-5 class actions.

CORPORATE TAX
The tax department has five nominees split between New York and London. In New York, Samuel Dimon was praised for both domestic and international tax work. The “very smart” Dana Trier is also highly recommended in the corporate tax chapter, as is Kathleen Ferrell. Our sources also regard Avishai Shachar as “definitely deserving” of inclusion in this publication. He designed the capital structure of SmithKline Beecham and played a leading role in the merger of SmithKline with Beecham and Comcast with AT&T Broadband. John Paton is based in London and was described to researchers as “excellent”. He has overseen the firm’s tax practice in Europe and Asia since 1993.