Mutual respect is a fundamental value of our firm. A spirit of common enterprise and openness allows individual talents to flourish. Our open, flexible and cooperative workplace supports each associate in finding the right career path and opportunities to excel at the highest levels of the legal profession.
We encourage associates to take on as much responsibility as they can, in a climate of pervasive teamwork. Each arriving associate experiences a wide variety of work in whichever department they join – Corporate, Litigation, Tax or Trusts and Estates. Many corporate lawyers begin in New York or Menlo Park then rotate to either London, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing or Hong Kong.
Partners are actively involved in advancing the careers of associates, and we have a dedicated department that monitors and fosters associate training and development. In the past 10 years, as the firm has grown from approximately 668 to 834 lawyers, we have promoted nearly 64 lawyers to partner. Most of our partners started out as associates here and have spent their entire careers at Davis Polk, except for leaves of absence to perform public service. The lawyers who choose to pursue careers elsewhere leave with exceptional experience – many go on to leadership positions in business, government, academia and, of course, the law.
Our collaborative approach is strongly reinforced by our lockstep compensation system. All lawyer compensation, including that of our partners, is based on seniority, not on client responsibility or billable hours.