California

Davis Polk & Wardwell is a consistent leader in litigation, earning its place as one of the top-tier firms in antitrust, securities, and white-collar crime especially. The firm’s growth over recent years has strategically established its presence in the New York, Washington DC and California markets. The accomplishments of its bench across practice areas have further driven the firm’s acclaim in high-profile litigation. A peer addresses Davis Polk partners as “outstanding financial litigators, very sharp across the board." Another insists, "They deserve their reputations for being really good lawyers."
     Davis Polk New York office continues to be revered as one of New York’s elite firms and is equipped with numerous respected lawyers. Greg Andres serves as the firm’s co-chair of the white-collar crime and investigation group and is one of the leading lawyers in the practice area, enjoying a spot on the Top 100 Trial Lawyers list since its inception. Andres led JPMorgan Chase to a March 2024 triumph when the DoJ moved to dismiss with prejudice a two-count criminal information filed against the financial institution in 2020 in connection with a 2020 deferred prosecution agreement, which arose out of spoofing activity in the precious metals and treasuries futures markets by traders on the bank’s precious metals and US.Treasuries desks between 2008 and 2016. This agreement compelled the bank to cooperate with numerous detailed conditions of the DoJ’s prosecutions. The court granted the government’s motion on the same day, holding that the bank “fully complied with all of [its] obligations under the agreement.” Andres also, along with Dana Seshens and lead partner James Rouhandeh, led Morgan Stanley to victory in a matter, stemming from 2012, common law fraud claims brought by a German bank arising from the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007. The Davis Polk team obtained partial summary judgment in 2023, but the court still permitted the plaintiff bank to proceed to trial on two other purported misrepresentations alleged in the complaint. The court heard oral argument in August 2024. Seshens and Martine Beamon scored for Attorney General Letitia James in February 2025, securing dismissal of harassment claims filed by a plaintiff alleging that James’s former Chief of Staff (who is separately represented in the action) sexually assaulted her at an event in November 2021 and that James and her Office were liable for his alleged conduct.

     Andrew Ditchfield has emerged as another one of the firm’s most prominent players. “Andrew is a complete rockstar and we’re seeing him more and more,” confirms a peer. “He’s suddenly everywhere, and it’s kind of out of nowhere!” Ditchfield  obtained a May 2024 victory for Exxon Mobil in a breach-of-contract action brought in New York State Supreme Court. The plaintiffs were former shareholders of InterOil Corporation, a Canadian oil-and-gas company that was acquired by ExxonMobil in 2017. The plaintiffs sued ExxonMobil four years after the transaction closed, alleging that it breached its contractual obligations by failing to pay the full amount of post-closing contingent consideration due to them under a Contingent Resource Payment agreement that was executed in connection with the acquisition. In April 2022, Ditchfield moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue their claims because the agreement barred individual shareholders or small ad hoc groups (like plaintiffs) from instituting any action to enforce the agreement. The court agreed and dismissed the complaint. The plaintiffs appealed to the Appellate Division, First Department, which affirmed the dismissal in a 3-2 decision in March 2023. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Court of Appeals, which unanimously affirmed the dismissal of the complaint. Ditchfield also represents Novo Nordisk in connection with three lawsuits filed in Delaware Chancery Court relating to its acquisition of Emisphere Technologies. Bankruptcy star Elliott Moskowitz won an appellate victory in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department in December 2024 for a group of lenders that participated in an October 2022 financing transaction undertaken by a major Canadian telecommunications provider. Following the 2022 transaction, the participating lenders were sued, in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of New York, by other lenders that did not participate in the 2022 financing. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs challenged liens securing more than $850 million in debt owed to the participating lenders and sought money damages on the basis that the restructuring transaction allegedly violated the terms of preexisting credit agreements, the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, among other claims. Paul Spagnoletti has carved out a premier spot in the professional liability capacity, generating particular acclaim for his defense of law firms. One peer testifies, “I witnessed Paul do a terrific job. He was effectively in the lead of a very complicated dispute with multiple law firms and billions at stake.”