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We represent a wide variety of clients in litigation relating to the current financial crisis. Our clients in these unprecedented matters include leading global financial institutions, major private funds and other preeminent corporations from throughout the United States and around the world. Our litigators possess unique experience in highly complex financial investigations and litigations and can draw on resources and expertise from across the firm – in areas including securities and bank regulation, investment management, derivatives, insolvency and mergers and acquisitions.

Of Note

  • Our financial crisis work was profiled in The American Lawyer, which described Davis Polk as “the go-to firm” for matters related to the financial crisis because of its “bank regulatory and insolvency prowess underpinned by broad M&A and capital markets experience.” The article quotes a partner at a rival firm as saying: “If you look at the confluence of all those areas of expertise, it isn’t surprising that Davis Polk was tapped for these matters.”

Notable Matters

Much of our financial crisis-related litigation work is confidential because it arises in the context of nonpublic investigations and pre-litigation counseling. Nonetheless, the following are sample matters that have been publicly disclosed.

  • We represent the current and past members of the Board of Directors of Bank of America named as defendants in multiple civil shareholder derivative suits relating to Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The claims in these cases include Federal securities law claims that are pending in consolidated litigation in the Southern District of New York and claims for breach of fiduciary duty pending in the Southern District of New York and Delaware Chancery Court. We have also represented current and past Bank of America directors and officers in related investigations by the New York Attorney General, the SEC and certain congressional committees.


  • We have represented PricewaterhouseCoopers US in a number of its major financial crisis matters, including:


    • All civil litigations and investigations relating to Bernard Madoff, including in a multi-district litigation in the Southern District of Florida related to the Optimal Funds which was recently dismissed in its entirety.

    • Securities litigation arising out of the deterioration of CIT Group’s subprime home mortgage and student loan portfolios.

    • A putative class action related to Charles Schwab arising out of the collapse of the mortgage-backed securities market, which we succeeded in having dismissed at the pleadings stage.
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