The partners of Davis Polk & Wardwell elected Thomas J. Reid as their new managing partner, the first non-American-born head of the New York law firm.  Mr. Reid, 46, succeeds John R. Ettinger, who held the post for a dozen years.  Mr. Reid, born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, is also the first Davis Polk managing partner to have left the firm and returned.  He spent 3 years with Morgan Stanley in London - from 2000 to 2003 - as an M&A banker before rejoining Davis Polk.   Mr. Reid earned law degrees from the University of Edinburgh in 1986 and from Columbia in 1987. 

The firm also named John Bick, a senior M&A lawyer, to its 3-person management committee.  Carey Dunne is the firm’s other management committee member.

Davis Polk has benefited from the upswing in deal activity.  It recently advised the special committee of the GSI Commerce board in its $2.4 billion sale to eBay, and the British homebuilder Taylor Wimpey in its sale to a private equity consortium.  On the litigation front, Davis Polk is representing the owners of the New York Mets in their dispute with Madoff trustee Irving Picard.

Perhaps most important, just this week Davis Polk won the “coolest law firm” contest run by the Above the Law blog, narrowly defeating Sullivan & Cromwell in the finals.   [Dealbook, 4/7]