Davis Polk has announced that David R. Wiles will be joining the firm as counsel in the Credit Group. In addition, five Davis Polk lawyers have been promoted to counsel effective November 1, 2011: Hayden S. Baker in the Environmental Group; Ross B. Galin and Daniel J. Schwartz in Litigation; and Connie I. Milonakis and John J. Satory in Corporate. Each new counsel is based in New York, with the exception of Ms. Milonakis and Mr. Satory, who are based in London.

Mr. Wiles will be counsel in the Corporate Department, practicing in the Credit Group in New York. He will be joining the firm from the Charlotte, N.C., office of Mayer Brown LLP. Mr. Wiles represents banks and other financial institutions in a variety of domestic and international financings, primarily syndicated and leveraged finance transactions, as well as loan workouts and restructurings. His recent experience includes advising Bank of America in a variety of syndicated acquisition and leveraged financings, both in the U.S. and cross-border, including a proposed $40 billion cross-border acquisition financing in 2007. He has also represented BofA in numerous bank financings in Latin America. Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Mr. Wiles was a managing director and associate general counsel at Bank of America.

Mr. Baker is counsel in the Corporate Department, practicing in the Environmental Group in New York. He represents companies, private equity firms and financial institutions in connection with the environmental aspects of mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, financing transactions, bankruptcies and real estate investments. He also assists clients in evaluating environmental liabilities, understanding emerging environmental requirements and negotiating transaction structures, indemnities and cost-sharing arrangements to allocate or mitigate environmental risks. He has significant experience in the oil and gas, mining and energy industries, including such recent transactions as Murphy Oil’s sale of its Meraux and Superior refineries, Molycorp's initial public offering, Metalmark Capital's investment in Maxum Petroleum and various transactions for Quicksilver Resources.

Mr. Galin is counsel in Davis Polk’s Litigation Department in New York. He represents major pharmaceutical companies, executives and employees in criminal, civil and regulatory proceedings. He has also conducted over 100 internal compliance investigations on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, sits on a company's Reportable Event Committee, and has conducted multiple proactive reviews of promotional practices. Mr. Galin also represents corporate clients in a variety of securities and general commercial litigation matters in federal and state courts. His recent experience includes
representing Howard Solomon, President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Forest Laboratories, in response to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (“OIG”) notice of consideration of exclusion; major pharmaceutical companies in Department of Justice investigations of off-label promotion and kickback allegations; and senior executive defendants in a shareholder derivative lawsuit.

Ms. Milonakis is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate Department in the London office. She has worked on numerous strategic corporate transactions as well as a wide variety of both public and private debt, equity and equity-linked offerings by U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, including initial public offerings, rights offerings, privatizations and spinoffs. Ms. Milonakis regularly advises investment banking clients on securities law-related matters and corporate clients on general corporate matters, including corporate governance and SEC matters. She has a particular focus on financial institutions, advising investment banking and corporate clients on recent offerings conducted by The Royal Bank of Scotland, Allied Irish Banks, ING Groep and Artio Global Investors.

Mr. Satory is counsel in the Corporate Department in the London office. His practice focuses on representing companies and investment banks on a variety of significant cross-border capital markets offerings and other strategic corporate transactions, with a particular focus on financial institutions as well as energy and health care companies. His capital markets experience includes numerous billion-dollar-plus equity and debt offerings by European, Asian and American issuers. He also provides clients advice on corporate governance, SEC reporting and other compliance matters.

Mr. Schwartz is counsel in the Litigation Department in New York. He represents financial institutions and professional services firms in federal and state securities matters, class actions and complex commercial litigation. He has also represented clients in a variety of regulatory, criminal, antitrust and bankruptcy matters. His recent representations include Morgan Stanley in litigation relating to mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligation (CDO) transactions, an investment bank in a contractual dispute over a CDO, and a national law firm in a securities class action brought by investors in a purported Ponzi scheme.

Davis Polk now has 56 counsel across its 10 offices.

About Davis Polk. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is a global law firm. For over 160 years, its lawyers have advised industry-leading companies and global financial institutions on their most challenging legal and business matters. Davis Polk ranks among the world’s preeminent law firms across the entire range of its practice, which spans such areas as capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, credit, litigation, private equity, tax, financial regulation, investment management, insolvency and restructuring, executive compensation, intellectual property, real estate and trusts and estates. Davis Polk (including its associated entities) has more than 750 lawyers in offices in New York, Menlo Park, CA, Washington DC, São Paulo, London, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo. For more information: http://www.davispolk.com.