Former Chairman of the FTC Is Set to Join Davis Polk

Davis Polk & Wardwell has hired Jon Leibowitz, the former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, a coup for the law firm as it bolsters its increasing presence in Washington.

Davis Polk, which is based in New York, plans to use Leibowitz’s expertise to advise its corporate clients on competition issues related to mergers and acquisition transactions, as well as to counsel companies in the burgeoning area of privacy law. Leibowitz raises the firm’s already considerable profile in Washington at a time when government policy affecting corporate America is increasing. As outside counsel for several of the country’s largest banks, for instance, Davis Polk has played a significant role in helping shape the new rules emerging from the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul law. In the enforcement area, Annette L. Nazareth, a former commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Linda Chatman Thomsen, a former S.E.C. enforcement chief, are Davis Polk partners. Leibowitz is the latest in a string of senior government antitrust lawyers who have departed for private practice after serving in major posts during President Obama’s first term.