NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Davis Polk today announced that Gary G. Lynch, former SEC Enforcement Director, former Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, and former Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Credit Suisse First Boston, has rejoined the firm in New York as counsel in the Litigation Department.
“Gary is a highly respected lawyer with an unmatched combination of public and private sector experience at the highest levels that makes him particularly attuned to the needs of our clients,” said Thomas J. Reid, Davis Polk’s Managing Partner. “We are delighted to welcome him back to the firm.”
As a Davis Polk partner from 1989 to 2001, Mr. Lynch advised a wide cross-section of clients, including major public corporations, financial institutions and accounting firms, on company-critical matters. He conducted internal investigations on behalf of senior management and Boards of Directors, and provided counsel on best practice remedial actions, dealings with regulators and prosecutors, and media relations.
Gary Lynch said, “I am pleased to have the opportunity to practice again at Davis Polk and rejoin my friends and colleagues. I look forward to working with the extremely talented Davis Polk team to help clients on their important investigations and advisory matters.”
Mr. Lynch first joined Davis Polk after serving for 13 years at the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he rose through the ranks until appointed Director of Enforcement in 1985, at the age of 34. Mr. Lynch participated in many of the SEC’s most important actions and initiatives in the areas of corporate disclosure, tender offers and proxy contests, and insider trading. He led the SEC’s crackdown on market abuses that resulted in the successful prosecutions of Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham, among others.
In 2001, Mr. Lynch joined Credit Suisse First Boston’s senior management team as Global Chief Legal Officer. He later was named Executive Vice Chairman and placed in charge of the firm’s Research Department, and joined the Executive Board of Credit Suisse in Zurich. Mr. Lynch joined Morgan Stanley in 2005 as Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President. Among other accomplishments, he led Morgan Stanley’s successful transition to a financial holding company in the midst of the financial crisis. In 2011, Mr. Lynch joined Bank of America as Head of Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Relations and subsequently also took on the role of Global General Counsel, a position he held until 2016. He successfully guided the bank through regulatory, prosecutorial and litigation exposure arising out of the financial crisis. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Lynch served as Vice Chairman, focusing on international regulatory, corporate governance and shareholder-related matters.
“Gary has led multiple global financial institutions through market-shaking challenges and successes and secured historic prosecutions at the helm of the SEC Enforcement Division,” said James P. Rouhandeh, head of Davis Polk’s Litigation Department. “His track record is remarkable and we are thrilled to have him back at the firm.”
About Davis Polk.
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (including its associated entities) is a global law firm with offices strategically located in the world’s key financial centers. For more than 165 years, our 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, antitrust and competition, litigation and enforcement, private equity, tax, financial regulation, investment management, restructuring, executive compensation, FinTech, intellectual property and technology, real estate, and trusts and estates. Davis Polk has more than 900 lawyers in offices located in New York, Northern California, Washington DC, São Paulo, London, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit: http://www.davispolk.com.
