Mr. Benkard is senior counsel in Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Litigation Department. He has represented clients in matters of commercial litigation pending in courts and administrative agencies. In recent years, he has represented Morgan Stanley, Prudential Insurance, Smith Barney, General Electric, GMAC, MONY, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Melville, Freeport-McMoRan, NCNB, International Paper, Morgan Guaranty Trust, and other clients. In 1994 he argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in one of the two cases that led to a decision by that court to strike on constitutional grounds a congressional enactment that resuscitated final judgments dismissing certain securities actions. Currently, among other matters, Mr. Benkard is representing on a pro bono basis, a class of seriously mentally ill prisoners, incarcerated in solitary confinement in the New York penal system, contending that their treatment violated the United States Constitution; and Duane Reade in an action seeking a business interruption insurance recovery arising out of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Mr. Benkard joined Davis Polk in 1963 and became a partner in 1973.

Mr. Benkard graduated from Harvard University in 1959 and in 1963 received his LL.B. from Columbia Law School. He clerked for the Honorable Charles D. Breitel of the Appellate Division, First Department, and the New York State Court of Appeals, from 1966 to 1967.

Mr. Benkard is a member of several bar associations and professional groups, including the American College of Trial Lawyers. He serves, or has served, as a trustee of Teachers College of Columbia University, Vassar College, the Environmental Defense Fund (where he chairs the Litigation Review Committee), the Columbia Law School Alumni Association, St. Mark’s School, and Scenic America.