Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell
London, UK
Paul Kumleben has been the Managing Partner of the London office of Davis Polk & Wardwell, a law firm with offices in major financial centers in the US, Europe and Asia, for 22 years. Before moving to London, Paul worked in the firm’s New York and Washington offices.
Paul’s practice has spanned a wide range of corporate transactions, with a particular emphasis on initial public offerings and other debut transactions. His London-based European practice has included dealings in 23 European countries, including the first sovereign and other capital markets transactions from many of the former Eastern Bloc states. After the regime change in South Africa in the mid-1990’s, Paul also focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, and has worked on numerous international capital markets transactions involving South African companies, as well as businesses in Angola, Gabon, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and Uganda. His non-professional interests include various initiatives relating to education in Africa, particularly at the university level.
Paul received a BA from the University of Cape Town, his LL.B from the University of Natal, a BA Honors in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar at University College) and a JD from IIT/Kent in Chicago. Paul and his wife, Sue, have three English born and raised children who are now at college in the US.
Partner: Susan Kumleben