Richard J. Davis

Richard J. Davis is a sole practitioner in New York and has been involved in difficult complex situations, serving as the court-appointed examiner in the Caesars bankruptcy; being the court- appointed trustee of a bankrupt hedge fund, serving as a mediator in hotly contested disputes and as an arbitrator, counseling a public company board, being involved in internal investigations and serving as special counsel in a variety of circumstances. Throughout his years in private practice he also has been active in the civic life of New York, including having served as chair of the Legal Aid Society, and was called upon by former President Clinton to testify as an expert in House of Repre- sentatives impeachment proceedings and by the Departments of Justice and Treasury to provide ad- vice on dealing with hostage/barricade and similar situations. Previously, Mr. Davis was a partner at         Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP for 30 years, where he served as Weil's General Counsel; represented numerous corporations, senior executives and boards of directors in investigations; was involved in significant bankruptcies (including Drexel, Olympia & York and Lehman); and served as an arbitra- tor and court-appointed special master/mediator in a number of matters. During the international debt crisis of the 1980s, he represented the government of Argentina in restructuring tens of billions of dollars of loans. During the Drexel Burnham bankruptcy, he worked with Judge Milton Pollack to help craft and negotiate the $1.3 billion Drexel Global Settlement. Additionally, in the years after 9/11, he served as counsel to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. After clerking for Judge Jack B. Weinstein, Mr. Davis served in the U.S. Attorneys' Office for the Southern District of New York, where among other areas he served in the Corruption Unit. Later, as a task force leader in the Watergate Special Prosecutor's office, he was the chief trial counsel in two Watergate trials (Dwight Chapin and Ed Reinecke) and took the lead in organizing testimony from former President Nixon. While serving as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Enforcement and Operations from 1977- 81 ), in addition to overseeing Customs, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Secret Service, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, he was involved with the Iranian hostage crisis and its resolution, working as part of the group that crafted the Iran-U.S. Hostage Release Agreement. Mr. Davis received his B.A. with high honors in history in 1966 from the University of Rochester, and his J.D. magna cum laude from Columbia University School of Law in 1969, where he was a notes and comments editor of its law review.