Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP - The Inside View

Contrary to what the word ‘BigLaw’ might suggest, firms in this category span from entities with tens of offices worldwide to single office nationals. With four domestic offices spread across New York, DC, Los Angeles, and Northern California, and a further seven dotted internationally, Davis Polk sits somewhere comfortably between the two.

Despite being “on the smaller side” of BigLaw, Davis Polk packs a pretty potent punch with its prestige being a big draw for insiders. “I wanted somewhere with a good name,” one newbie emphasized, “Somewhere to build my resume with as many opportunities as possible to set myself up for anything I wanted to do in the future.”

“There’s security and comfort in having strength across the board.”

Often taking on many of the biggest names in the legal industry, Davis Polk sits in a Bilbo-versus-Smaug-esque scenario where it’s managed to procure a hefty trove of honors. Our sister guide Chambers USA certainly recognizes Davis Polk as a top firm in 16 practices nationwide, including banking & finance; bankruptcy/restructuring; capital markets; corporate crime & investigations; corporate/M&A; derivatives; financial services regulation; private credit; securities litigation; and corporate & finance tax. “Generally, the firm is good across the board in its range of practice groups,” one junior noted, adding, “There’s security and comfort in having strength across the board.”

Strategy & Future

Market-leading though the firm may be in many a practice area, managing partner Neil Barr hints at expansion prospects. “We are investing in areas of strength,” Barr tells us, highlighting the scaling of the firm’s Northern California and London bases as key priorities. “In Northern California, we’ve welcomed finance partner Rob Morrison from White & Case and M&A partner Michael Diz from Debevoise, and that’s reflective of us looking to be a full-service firm on the West Coast,” he details. In London, the firm has also hired restructuring partners from Sidley Austin and partners from Paul Hastings and A&O Shearman. “We’ve seen substantial growth in our partnership headcount, along with new offices in California and London with best-in-class spaces,” he notes.

“The firm is adapting cautiously, but looking for opportunities.”

With rapid changes to any organization there are bound to be questions about how the culture might be impacted, but Barr is keen to highlight the importance of the firm’s team-oriented approach: “Certainly, at the partner level we steer away from the individually minded, and we train associates to be team players.” Role-models and mentors play a big part in this strategy “so from the beginning you can see it’s part of the firm’s DNA,” but efficiency also plays a key role for associates. On the tip of everyone’s tongue is, of course, the AI boom, something that Barr admits the next generation will have to confront. “It’s still early days on what that will mean,” he muses, “but we are continually assessing AI and the opportunities and threats it presents to our industry.” Juniors we spoke with felt similarly, echoing that, at least on the writing side “the firm is adapting cautiously, but looking for opportunities, and we have training on that.”

Read more from Neil Barr under the ‘Get Hired’ tab.

Summer Program

Summers are encouraged to try as many different practice areas as possible during the summer program. “You can be very candid about being unsure” about what practice you want to specialize in, newbies noted, reassuring that “you can voice what you want to do and what you don’t want to do.”

Sources also mentioned that second- and third-year associates are heavily involved in the summer, “acting as coordinators and carrying out the staffing, planning events, and acting as your liaison across the period.”

The Work

Sources heaped on praise for the firm’s work allocation and staffing system. Those we spoke with felt that “you definitely get the work you want” as the firm “takes care in placing you with the people you want to work with.”

Before starting at the firm, juniors are asked what they are interested in and a staffing team of former attorneys ensures teams are fully staffed. Thereafter, associates send weekly reports on their capacity and are assigned work accordingly. To the extent you’ve previously worked with someone, “the staffers might say so-and-so requested you on this, but you are never rogue staffed,” sources reassured.

In terms of working cross practice, the firm recently introduced a generalist program where juniors have the option to work across both the litigation and corporate groups before choosing one, but for the most part, juniors are placed into one or the other off the bat.

White collar, supreme court and appellate, civil, IP, and antitrust make up the five departments within litigation where, for the first three years, juniors are generalists and can work across the spectrum of matters. Those who want to specialize in IP or antitrust can do so after a year but for the most part, people specialize at the end of their third year.

Across the departments juniors can expect to take on doc review, discovery tasks, and research. As juniors develop experience and trust within the group, they’re able to move towards leading meetings with counsel, representing witnesses for companies, and managing down as well. “As you get more into the job, you start to get more responsibility when they see you are dependable,” sources concluded.

Litigation clients: ExxonMobil, Central Bank of Curacao, Sentinel Real Estate Corp. Represented Meta and WhatsApp in a trial against spyware company NSO Group Technologies alleging the group accessed WhatsApp’s servers without permission to install spyware on mobile devices.

Litigation generalists in any office can specialize in IP, but it’s worth noting that out of the five partners on the West Coast, one has a focus on civil litigation with four focusing on IP litigation but that’s staffed across the country. Sources praised the fact that “in IP there are more opportunities when you are more junior because it is a smaller group; they go to trial with some frequency, so there are more opportunities to go to trial, and assist with things like depositions.” In IP more generally, juniors work across patent and trade secrets, as well as trademark and copyright cases.

IP litigation clients: Comcast, Magnolia Medical Technologies, Meta Platforms. Represented Comcast in a patent litigation brought against it by Touchstream Technologies relating to patents surrounding the remote control of video playback.

Associates in the corporate group generally go through two rotations of six months each before specializing in the likes of M&A, investment management, capital markets, finance, real estate or restructuring among others.

Due diligence on M&A deals is “a huge part” of what new starters do, but sources noted that “even as a second year, it feels like that is changing,” with responsibilities ramping up to drafting and leading client calls once associates have gained a good level of trust. Whether it be on public or private deals, “within the scope of the job, I interact with clients all the time,” an interviewee noted, explaining, “We run pretty lean teams so you’re the point of contact.”

Corporate clients: S&P Global, GlaxoSmithKline, Dollar Tree. Represented the Ferrero Group on its acquisition of all outstanding equity of WK Kellogg, totaling $3.1 billion.

Many of the corporate associates we spoke to had undergone a stint in restructuring, which they generally found to be a dive into the deep end. “There is a big knowledge gap, so you have to jump in” to deals that move very quickly, newbies noted. Here, juniors’ day-to-day generally consists of leading workstreams, reviewing client queries, and “constantly interfacing and speaking to clients.” For first years getting to grips with the work, there can be “large amounts of legal research,” which sources noted typically “isn’t as fun,” but insiders were generally positive about the ramp up to more substantive work.

Restructuring clients: Barclays Bank, Spirit Airlines, One Madison Group. Advising Purdue Pharma on its chapter 11 restructuring in relation to the resolution of over $40 trillion in asserted opioid-related claims.

Pro Bono

“You can take on as much or as little as you like.”

Aside from the NY state bar requirement for local associates to complete at least 50 hours of pro bono work, there are no pro bono hour requirements for juniors at Davis Polk. “You can take on as much or as little as you like,” sources explained. Similar to client billables, the firm has a central staffing system for pro bono matters run by a chief pro bono officer. Involvement is “very much encouraged, and the department of four to five lawyers whose full-time job is to work on pro bono demonstrates that,” a junior noted.

Historically, the firm has had a large humanitarian parole practice so there’s plenty of immigration pro bono available to work on. There is also a spectrum of other matters associates can get involved with, including clemency or compassionate release cases, name changes for LGBTQIA individuals, and veterans’ cases. More corporate-leaning matters include assisting with the incorporation of LLCs, drafting contracts, and ensuring small businesses are making the right filings.

Pro bono hours

• For all US offices: undisclosed
• Average per US attorney: undisclosed

Career Development

For a number of interviewees, the ample training opportunities on offer at Davis Polk were an appreciated feature of the junior associate experience. Sessions vary by department, but all first years are able to take part in two or three weeklong workshops (including ‘Lawyering 101’ where all first years globally head to New York), while second years have formal training sessions nearly every week, covering a range of topics, from how to deal with feedback to how to effectively use Excel.

Mentorship is also another key feature of the junior associate experience. Starting with the summer program, associates are paired with a partner mentor and an associate liaison, though sources noted “the informal mentorship has been the most valuable,” particularly given juniors share offices for the first few years.

The firm also provides a professional skills coach with whom juniors can have one-on-one sessions with “on things like receiving feedback, communicating working style, and handling workloads,” we heard. These regular check-ins meant associates have “pretty clear expectations on what kind of things you need to do to become partner.” When it comes to exit opportunities more generally, associates explained, “If you want to go in-house, the firm will help you.”

Culture

“Professional” was the word most commonly used to describe the working culture at Davis Polk. “What has stuck out is that we are a law firm that is quick to praise the work of people at all levels, but blame doesn’t flow downwards,” an associate highlighted. According to interviewees, it’s a culture that is reflected across the firm from the most junior to the most senior: “The words ‘thank you’ are used a lot at all levels.”

Ultimately “it is a New York firm,” but sources noted West Coast offices are “very well integrated with New York and DC, and attorneys travel to the West Coast and vice versa.” Unavoidably “you shouldn’t expect to be head over heels loving everyone,” one associated chuckled, but “we are known as kind people, and I think overall that is true.”

As for the firm’s social calendar, “events are certainly available” for those interested. Offices routinely host happy hours, and there are more formal events like recruitment initiatives and lunches, which associates noted, “are huge, so you get to know the groups really well.”

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: no requirement

The fact that the firm has no billable hour requirement was a big draw for many interviewees, but even beyond that, associates praised the firm’s concerted efforts to respect their time outside of typical working hours. “They’re very mindful of your out of office time and understand you have a life outside of work,” a source explained. “Vacation time is highly respected here,” with those in corporate even expected to take holiday in week-long chunks. There’s the caveat that “sometimes you might have to log on, but people really frown upon it,” associates underlined, noting, “that speaks to the respect people have for their colleagues.”

Juniors told us that the lack of billable hour requirements “is nice for when you’re slow,” but the general consensus was that associates don’t have trouble getting regular work. “60 hours a week is roughly where they want you to be,” one insider told us, “that’s when they’ll stop staffing you, so I’d say 8am to 9pm is my average day.” Expectations on weekend work, in the typical manner, really depend on the timetabling of matters and how busy you are; those we spoke with reported that, far from the expectation for everyone to work on the weekend, seniors generally leave you be unless a matter necessitates it.

No billable requirement also means that when it comes to compensation “it’s lockstep so everyone makes the same amount, and everyone gets the bonus as long as they work full time.” Those who don’t work full time and are on the firm’s Flex program have their bonus reflect the percentage of hours they have worked.

The firm makes an effort to ensure associates, partners, and staff are well integrated with an in-office policy mandating people be in person four days a week, with 16 work from home days each year. There was the general feeling amongst our interviewees that the policy “could be more flexible,” but sources noted that there is the understanding that “if you’re not feeling well, you can work from home, and they acknowledge people have childcare responsibilities.”

Interview with managing partner, Neil Barr

Commercial strategy, market position and trends

Chambers Associate: How would you define your firm’s current position and identity in the legal market? What differentiates your firm from your peer firms in the market?

Neil Barr: We are at the top of the market – and we have achieved that in a unique way. We are very much focused on teams, and on supporting those who work here as a team member. This allows us to provide uniquely innovative solutions to our clients, and the team orientation is an exceptional way for associates to develop their skillset; it provides associates with exposure to clients and senior members of the firm early in their careers. Our core values and culture drive us forward as a firm – our firm’s unwavering pursuit of excellence coupled with alignment toward common goals is a powerful force, and teamwork and cooperation in meeting those goals is the special ingredient no other firm can bring to market.

CA: Have there been any developments at the firm over the past year that you’d like law students to know about?

Barr: A consistent theme for our firm is that we are investing in areas of strength. In terms of new developments, we have been focused on scaling our platforms in Northern California and London. In Northern California, we’ve welcomed finance partner Rob Morrison from White & Case and M&A partner Michael Diz from Debevoise, and that’s reflective of us looking to be a full-service firm on the West Coast. We’re also expanding in London in a measured way, bringing on restructuring partners from Sidley Austin, and finance and M&A partners from Paul Hastings and A&O Shearman. So, we’ve seen substantial growth in our partnership headcount, along with new offices in California and London with best-in-class spaces. On the practice side, we’ve doubled our asset management platform in the last year, and we’ve amplified our data center and infrastructure capabilities.

We have worked hard to evolve our coverage models while preserving the culture that makes Davis Polk special. I think you can lose the thread of your institutional ethos when growing, but we’ve focused on not losing that and instead leveraging it; we hire lawyers who embrace the team orientation and institutional way of practicing law. Certainly, at the partner level we steer away from the individually minded, and we train associates to be team players. A first year will be given a number of ways to be a team player, role model and mentor, so from the beginning you can see it’s part of the firm’s DNA.

Inside the Firm

CA: How is the firm evolving to accommodate the needs/expectations of the next generation of lawyers?

Barr: We have an obligation to our people to provide them with the best opportunity to succeed in what they want to do, whatever that may be; we are very focused on maintaining our covenant to our associates to provide  an exceptional start to their career, best-in-class training and mentorship, and exposure to meaningful work. We believe that, in a business built on personal relationships, the next generation benefits from in-office attendance because it’s supportive of culture and training. So we’ve invested in office infrastructure to create an exceptional work environment. We’ve created comfortable, modern, forward-leaning spaces designed to promote collaboration, and that makes it more fun to be here.

The Legal Profession

CA: How do you predict the legal profession will change in the next five years? Are there any particular challenges the industry is facing?

Barr: The next generation will also need to confront AI – it’s still early days on what that will mean, but we are continually assessing AI and the opportunities and threats it presents to our industry. I offer this prediction with modesty, but I think some of the more boring tasks will be routinized; AI will provide a more efficient way of doing those. I think it could be an opportunity for associates to focus on higher-value projects.

The Fun Bit

CA: Throwing it back to law school: it's been a long day of classes and studying. What's your go-to easy meal to have before you crash?

Barr: I like a nice Italian seafood salad.

CA: What was the first concert you attended?

Barr: Billy Joel’s ‘An Innocent Man’ tour.

CA: Thinking about the ways in which the legal profession is developing, what is the one skill you have learnt in your career that you think is key for young attorneys to learn?

Barr: Empathy – I talk to associates extensively about being empathetic. Getting into the minds of your clients is critical.