London may have caught New York-based giant Davis Polk & Wardwell’s eye as early as 1973, but it’s only two years ago that the firm’s UK office launched an English law practice, following the January 2012 hire of former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partner Simon Witty and tax partner Jonathan Cooklin.Seventeen months later, the duo were joined by Will Pearce, who trained and became a corporate partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, before assuming a similar position at Davis Polk on 1 May 2013.
Along with his responsibilities in the English law department, Pearce (pictured) has also taken on the role of principal to the firm’s new training programme, which will accept between four and six trainees each year, and which offered vacation scheme seats to 19 graduates in 2013. This year, the firm plans to organize three vacation sessions, with each one expected to last two weeks and to see roughly eight students in attendance. So far, the vacation scheme format has included career-oriented presentations and seminars, meetings with Davis Polk lawyers, and a tour of the Kaplan Law School, where accepted trainees will be taking their Legal Practice Course (LPC).
