Our Approach

 
Davis Polk has a long tradition of representing clients in cross-border litigation and enforcement matters. Major international companies and financial institutions regularly turn to us to handle matters in the United States and abroad in connection with a range of global regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, arbitrations, internal investigations, commercial disputes and civil and criminal court proceedings. Our experience includes representing foreign clients in U.S. proceedings, as well as representing U.S. and non-U.S. clients in foreign jurisdictions. We also frequently advise leading international companies on global compliance matters.
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Awards and Rankings

  • Davis Polk’s “consistently excellent” litigation practice earned an “Elite” designation and received the highest ranking among litigation firms for General Commercial Litigation, White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations and Antitrust from Chambers USA 2003-2011: “[Davis Polk] has a strong track record handling high-profile contentious matters for financial industry clients and global corporations.”
     
  • “[Davis Polk’s] preeminence across a broad range of litigation types continues to impress in securities, complex commercial, white-collar criminal cases and investigations.” Chambers USA 2011
     
  • Davis Polk was named the “U.S. Litigation Law Firm of the Year” at the 2005 Chambers Global Awards.

Notable Matters

  • We represent Siemens AG and are advising it in criminal and regulatory matters in numerous jurisdictions relating to corruption allegations - including advising the company on financial reporting, coordinating its global defense as to non-U.S. investigations, and assisting in the development of enhanced compliance policies and procedures. We acted as counsel in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) proceedings, and we currently represent Siemens before various multilateral development banks and in civil matters arising from the corruption matter. In coordination with the simultaneous settlement of related German proceedings, we successfully structured a court-approved resolution of all criminal and civil investigations by the DOJ and the SEC.


  • We represented Deloitte in connection with a shareholder litigation, as well as criminal and regulatory proceedings, arising from a massive restatement by Royal Ahold, N.V. – the Dutch grocer and former owner of U.S. Foodservice – that was prompted by the discovery of two large-scale frauds. In 2008, we won dismissal of the civil suit against Deloitte and in 2009 we prevailed on appeal before the Fourth Circuit.


  • We served as independent counsel to the Audit Committee of Royal Dutch Shell, leading an investigation into the re-categorization of almost four billion barrels of oil equivalent from proved reserves to other reserve categories.


  • We represented Altria Group and Philip Morris International in connection with a cooperation agreement with the European Union and several of its member states to reduce the illegal trade in cigarettes.

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