Davis Polk Elects Six New Partners

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP today announced that William J. Chudd, Li He, Antonio J. Perez-Marques, Brian M. Resnick, Dana M. Seshens and Miranda So have been elected partners of the firm, effective July 1, 2011. Davis Polk now has 166 partners in its offices in New York, Menlo Park, Washington DC, London, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.

Mr. Chudd is a member of the Corporate Department in New York, concentrating in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and related matters. His experience includes a wide variety of U.S. and international mergers and acquisitions transactions. He has recently advised VF Corporation in its pending acquisition of The Timberland Company; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Treasury in connection with the recapitalization of American International Group (AIG); ExxonMobil in its acquisition of XTO Energy; Roche in its going-private acquisition of Genentech; PartnerRe in its acquisition of ParisRe; MSCI in its acquisition of RiskMetrics; and Comcast in its investment in Clearwire Corporation.

Mr. He is a member of the Corporate Department in Beijing. Since joining the firm in 2003, his practice has focused on public and private corporate finance transactions, including equity and debt offerings, private equity investments, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. He has extensive experience representing Chinese state-owned enterprises in connection with their restructurings and initial public offerings (IPOs), including the IPOs of Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, each was the world's largest-ever IPO at the time of listing. He also frequently worked on SEC-registered offerings of both PRC companies and international companies.

Mr. Perez-Marques is a member of the Litigation Department in New York, focusing on securities class actions, complex commercial litigation, and white-collar criminal defense. His recent representations include the defeat of class certification on behalf of Morgan Stanley in a multi-billion-dollar subprime-related suit; the successful representation through trial of Comcast Corporation in parallel state court and FCC proceedings against the National Football League; and the successful representation of a Fortune 100 corporation in criminal bribery investigations, through the acquittal at federal jury trial of two former executives, with no charges against or settlement by the company. Mr. Perez-Marques also has extensive experience with respect to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He has advised clients including Siemens AG on the design and implementation of FCPA compliance programs, and has conducted FCPA investigations and compliance reviews in Europe, Africa, and throughout Latin America.

Mr. Resnick is a member of the Insolvency and Restructuring Group in New York. He has substantial experience in a broad range of corporate restructurings and bankruptcies, representing debtors, creditors, asset purchasers and other strategic parties in connection with pre-packaged and traditional bankruptcies, out-of-court workouts, DIP and exit financings, bankruptcy litigation and asset acquisitions. He also advises financial institutions and other clients in structuring complex derivatives and securities transactions. Mr. Resnick is currently serving as one of the lead lawyers in the representation of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) in connection with the Lehman U.S. Chapter 11 cases, and he recently represented the administrative agent under the $4.5 billion debtor-in-possession financing for Delphi Corporation, including in connection with the unprecedented credit bidding of the DIP facility claims in exchange for a substantial portion of Delphi’s businesses. His other major matters include the Chapter 11 cases of Delta Air Lines, Adelphia, Refco, Capmark and Federal-Mogul.

Ms. Seshens is a member of the Litigation Department in New York. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, securities class actions, and bankruptcy litigation. Most recently, she has represented Sterling Equities and the owners of the New York Mets in connection with litigation brought by the trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Ms. Seshens also has extensive experience representing corporate clients and professional firms with respect to a wide range of state and federal regulatory inquiries and civil litigation, including representation of Bank of America, N.A. as trial counsel in litigation arising out of the bankruptcy of Adelphia Communications Corp.; a consortium of banks as trial counsel in litigation concerning the leveraged buyout of Clear Channel Communications; and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in various proceedings arising out of events at Tyco International Ltd.

Ms. So is a member of the Corporate Department in Hong Kong. Her work focuses on public and private company mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, private equity transactions, securities offerings, and general corporate matters. She advises major corporations and private equity clients on acquisitions, investments, dispositions and joint ventures across Asia and on complex cross-border transactions. She also advises clients on a wide range of U.S. public company transactions, including takeovers, going-private transactions, private investments in public equity (PIPEs), spinoffs, and restructurings. Ms. So has been recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers Global and Chambers Asia. She is admitted to practice in New York and Hong Kong.

About Davis Polk. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is a global law firm. For over 160 years, its 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, litigation, private equity, tax, investment management, insolvency and restructuring, executive compensation, intellectual property, real estate and trusts and estates. The firm has approximately 750 lawyers in offices in New York, Menlo Park, CA, Washington DC, London, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.